A New Life
by Rule12H8r
Summary: What would it be like if the NCIS team went to high school together? If Gibbs and Jenny were Abby's parents? If Ziva's family died and she was adopted by the Gibbs family? If Tony and Kate were cousins? Ziva starts her new life in America. Tiva, Jibbs, later McAbby, no Kate-bashing. AU high school. Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or the characters. Read, review and enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Ziva David sat quietly in strange room. The past few days had been a blur. Her entire life had turned upside down, not that anyone would be able to tell just by looking at the young Israeli. She put on a stone mask. Ziva shut down, showed no emotion. She retreated into her strong Mossad façade, hiding away her inner demons.

Ziva took a look around the room she was in. It was an office; there was a desk with one large chair on one side and three smaller chairs on the other. Behind the desk was a bookcase filled with large binder, occasionally spaced out by pictures of political figures, monuments, and even a few of happy families.

Family. Ziva wasn't sure if she would ever have a family again. Now, they were all gone, aside from distant relatives.

As she stared on straight ahead at a picture of yet another happy family, she thought of all that had happened in the past 48 hours.

* * *

_Ziva David marched down the streets purposefully, with strength emanating from her very core. She was finally on her way home after a long day of Mossad training. All she wanted now was to go home, shower, and share the evening with her mother, Rivka, sister, Tali, and brother, Ari, eating dinner, chatting long into the night until their father came out of his study and sent them to bed._

_As she made the last turn onto her street she knew something was wrong. She saw it immediately. A car skidded off quickly at the other end of the road. Her pace quickened before she was abruptly knocked to her feet just before she reached her driveway. The atmosphere grew warm and smoke filled the air as she regained her balance and stood back up._

_Staring at her house she felt helpless. Her home, and she knew her family as well, was gone, encased in flames._

_Ziva felt the tears beginning to well up in her eyes, but pushed the feeling away. Crying was a sign of weakness, and right now, she could not afford to be weak._

_She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the emergency number._

"Hello this is an emergency operator what is your emergency?"_ a calm voice answered._

"My home has been bombed. There were four people inside." _The teenager responded shortly._

_Ziva gave her the address and what not before plopping down on the curb. She sat with her arms crossed atop her knees and her chin resting on her arms._

_She stayed like that for hours, watching as the ambulance pulled up, as the fire fighter quenched the flames, as EMT pulled the bodies of her family, one by one, out of the remains. By the time someone addressed her, the sun had long since gone down and the air had grown cold._

"Hello. You are Ziva?" _The woman wore a boots, jeans and a button down blouse._

"Yes."

"And this was your home. Your family was in there?"

"Yes." _Ziva repeated shortly once again._

"How old are you Ziva?"_ the woman continued to question gently as Ziva stood at attention in front of her._

"17"

"Ziva, you are a minor. With your family gone, is there anywhere you can go?"

_Ziva of course was prepared for this question. When you lived a life as dangerous as hers you were always prepared for the worst. She knew her father would want her to stay in Israel, perhaps just stay with another Mossad officer. But Ziva knew she could finally have the better life she always wanted. The life her mother wished her to have. Ziva wanted to follow her mother's wishes._

"Yes, a family friend. NCIS Director, Jennifer Shepherd. She is in the U.S." _Ziva answered, her tone made it obvious she was determined to go with this woman._

The woman, Sarah, brought her back to her office, where she sorted out the David family's financial plans. All of the money would go to Ziva, except for a half of her father, Eli's, money, which he chose in his will, would be donated to Mossad.

Sarah then proceeded to find Jennifer Shepherd, whom she found was in Washington DC, before contacting the Israeli embassy's office there.

Sarah drove Ziva to the airport and bought her a plane ticket with the money Ziva inherited from her family. Ziva was sent onto a plane with almost nothing. All of her possessions that she didn't have with her or that she picked up from her locker at Mossad were burnt to nothing in her home.

Before Ziva left through the terminal Sarah handed Ziva a slip of paper with an address on it.

"_When you get to America, find a taxi cab. Have them bring you there. It is the Israeli embassy. Tell whoever is at the front desk who you are, they will be waiting for you."_

* * *

Ziva snapped her head to the left when she heard the door to the office open. In stepped the same man who she spoke to when she first got here, a gray haired man with a shocking blue eyes and a marine cut, and the woman she had been waiting to see.

Ziva stood to greet the woman she had only met three times before, but still trusted with her life.

"Shalom, Jen." Ziva said, leaning in to kiss both cheeks.

"Hey, Ziva. Everything will be sorted out soon. Okay?" the red- head replied, hugging the girl whose mother had saved her life more than once. Ziva stiffened at the contact before relaxing into the woman.

Ziva closed her eyes for a moment and nodded. Jen thought she might've heard a whispered 'Todah' but she wasn't sure.

Jen gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before turning to the man standing beside her.

"Ziva, this is my husband. Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

Ziva reached an arm out to shake his hand, which he accepted.

"Gibbs." The man said.

"Nice to meet you." Ziva said politely.

Gibbs nodded, then everyone turned to the owner of the office they were standing in.

The man pulled out some papers, explained a few things, and it wasn't long before he handed them the last packet of papers.

"This doesn't normally happen so quickly, but this is under some very special circumstances. Since you, Jen are the director of a federal agency, you both work for the government, and you, Ziva, are the daughter of the director of Mossad, and were already training to become an officer things can be done a bit differently." He explained.

"The adoption process typically takes at least a year, but due to your positions, we were quickly able to find the appropriate paperwork. Also, it was listed in Rivka David's will that you, Jen, were to become the legal guardian. This obviously changes how the process goes quite a bit." They all nodded at this.

"Now, if you two would please sign the marked spots in this packet, you will officially be Miss David's legal guardians." He finished, sliding the packet across the desk and turning it to face them.

Jen sent Ziva a reassuring smile, Ziva smiled in return.

Jen flipped through the pages, signing and initialing on the appropriate spots, and then pushed the papers over to her husband.

Gibbs did just as she did. He just signed the final blank when he looked up at Ziva. The edges of his lips were turned up in a hint of a smile. He nodded to her, acknowledging that he was done and clicked the pen closed.

"Welcome to the family, kid."


	2. Chapter 2

The mid-day sun beat down on the three as they stepped out of the government building.

Ziva did as she always did when she was new to her surroundings and like she was taught in her training, she discreetly surveyed the area as she followed Jen and Gibbs to their car.

She had about a billion things running through her head. Ziva thought about how the man in the office said she was in training, which put a grimace on her face. It was just a reminder of how much of her childhood her father had taken away from her.

Ziva was too young to be an officer, but her father had the power and the connections to secretly train his daughter to be the sharp end of the spear, starting when she was only twelve years old.

She thought about America, how different her life would be here. The culture was different, and she was simply grateful that English was one of the many languages she knew.

She thought about her new family. She had met Jenny and a handful of times before, but Ziva knew that if her mother had as much faith in her as she did, that she would be happy under her care. Ziva had never before met Gibbs, but had heard a thing or two about him from Jenny and her mother.

Ziva knew he was an ex-marine, that he didn't talk much, and that he was fiercely loyal. The moment Ziva met him; she immediately respected and trusted him. That didn't happen often with her.

She also knew that they had a daughter, she didn't hear about that until today though. She only knew that she was a few months younger and that her name was Abby.

Ziva's thought were interrupted when she noticed the car pulling down a street in the suburbs. She certainly wasn't used to this kind of neighborhood, but knew it would be one of the many thing things she would have to get used to.

The now former Mossad officer stared intently out the window at the quaint little neighborhood. It was very charming. There was a couple walking their dog, and middle aged woman jogging, and a few kids about nine years old playing soccer in front of one house. Where she was from this would seem insane. The children seemed so carefree, like nothing would ever hurt them.

Ziva could clearly see that she would be safe here.

_This will be a good change_ she reminded herself.

Jen, who was seated in the passenger seat, caught Ziva's eye in the rearview mirror as they pulled up toward one of the houses.

"We're here." She said softly with a gentle smile, which Ziva returned.

They all stepped out of the car and made their way to the door.

Gibbs, who was walking slightly ahead of the two ladies, opened the door. He poked his head around a bit as they came through the entryway.

"Abs! We're home!" Gibbs called out.

Jenny softly patted Ziva's arm, getting her attention, before heading down a hallway. Ziva followed her quietly.

They stopped outside a set of French doors; you could hear the murmur of chatter coming from the room.

Jen opened the door and stepped aside to let Ziva enter first.

Only a second after she was in the room a pair of arms wrapped around her in a bear hug. She struggled for a moment before realizing the Jenny was smiling at her and also that the arms belonged to a teenage girl about her age. _Abby._

Hesitantly, Ziva loosely draped her arms around the other girls back.

"Come on Abs, you're gunna crush her." chuckled a voice from behind Abby.

Ziva looked up to find that there were in fact three other people in the room, all seemed to be about the same age as her.

The first one she noticed was a tall, athletic looking boy with spiky light brown hair, piercing green eyes and a charming smile. He appeared, Ziva noticed, to be very intrigued by her. _Wow,_ the boy thought _she's beautiful._

The next was a petite, preppy looking girl with straight, brown hair. She smiled to Ziva, but her body language showed that she was a bit shy and still wanted to seem confident. Ziva liked that, the pride this girl had in herself.

Lastly, Ziva saw the boy who was obviously the one whose voice she heard. He was a skinny, nerdy looking boy and an amused smile was spread across his face. When Ziva's eyes met his, he saw her story and how tough her life had been reflecting back in those large brown orbs. He had to admit, at least to himself, that he was a bit intimidated by her.

Abby slowly released Ziva from her grip. She still had a huge grim plastered across her face.

Ziva finally got a good look at her as well. She had her raven colored hair pulled into pigtails high up on each side of her head. She wore a green band t-shirt and black skinny jeans. Ziva couldn't ignore the happiness that Abby was practically glowing in, like she could never be broken down.

"Hi, Ziva! I'm Abby. So sorry about what happened, but I guess we're sisters now, like you'll live here with us and everything. Oh, but don't worry you'll get your own room. We cleared out the guest bedroom for you before you got here. We'll show you that later though." Abby rambled quickly. "These are my friends, so they'll probably become your friends too since they're here all the time and we'll be in the same classes and everyth-"

Abby was finally cut off by her mom.

"Abby, how many of those caf-pows did you have today?" Jenny said sternly.

Abby looked nervous, and maybe a tiny bit guilty at the question.

"Umm, like- maybe" Abby found a sudden interest with her shoes, staring at them intently. "4… ish"

"Abby!" Jenny shrieked.

"Sorry mom." The girl mumbled. Jen took a deep breath and rubbed a hand along Abby's arm, as a sign of accepting the apology.

Jenny turned back to the rest of the room. An instructing look to Ziva told them to introduce themselves.

The athletic guy stepped forward.

"Hey, I'm Tony. I live on the corner." He said nodding his head in the direction of his house. He casually held his hand out which Ziva shook. "This is my cousin, Kate; she lives right across the street."

The girl smiled sweetly to her with a little half wave.

"And this is McGee. He lives behind you." Tony finished naming everyone. Ziva was actually kind of glad that he added where they lived to his little intro, saved her from having to figure it out on her own.

"Call me Tim." The nerdy boy said gently.

Ziva smiled and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hello. I am Ziva David." Ziva responded and turned to Abby. "You mentioned being in the same classes. When does school start here?"

"Well, we just got off for summer vacation three weeks ago. Vacation is three months long. Don't worry; you'll have plenty of time to get used to it here before school starts up again. We don't have to go back until late August."

Ziva nodded.

There was a moment of awkward silence, which Jenny, being the adult in the room, decided needed fixing.

"I'm going to go make something for lunch. Why don't you show Ziva her way around the house and help her get settle into her room?" They all nodded at that, but saw she wasn't done and waited for her to speak again.

"Ziva, I know you didn't really bring any clothes or anything with you, but you can borrow some of Abby's tonight and we can go shopping tomorrow. We will get your clothes and any other necessities, but I'll have to go into the office for the afternoon so we won't be able to get anything for your bedroom until later in the week."

Ziva started to nod when Tony spoke up. Tony was the oldest of the group and the only one with a car.

"If you want, Zi, I can drive you and we can get you bedroom stuff." Tony said, surprising himself when he realized how nervous he sounded.

Ziva smirked inwardly. _Zi? _She thought. Her mother was the only one that ever called her anything other than Ziva. _He's cute when he's nervous._

"I would like that. Thank you Tony." Ziva said. Tony's face lit up, glad that he offered. He really wanted to get to know her a lot more. _Seriously, what's with this girl? First I thought of her as beautiful, not hot or cute or sexy. Now I really just want to get to know her. Like, not just take her on a date and make out with her, but just hang out and talk to her for a bit._

"Alrighty then. I'm going to start up the grill and make some burgers for lunch while you take the tour." Jen turned around and left, heading back down the hallway they came from.

"Come on, let's show you around!" Abby said, excited as always.


	3. Chapter 3

Abby, latching tightly onto Ziva's wrist, dragged her throughout the house. The rest of the group trailed behind them, putting in their two cents every now and then.

"Okay so now you've seen dad's basement, the kitchen, lounge, bathroom, den, and garage. So, that's all of the downstairs. Shall we head upstairs now?"

"Sure Abby." Ziva was slightly amused by the energy and excitement that her new 'sister' had.

Once up the steps, they stood in an open hallway on the second floor.

"This first door here is my bedroom, next to it is our bathroom, all the way at the end is mom and dad's room. This one here," Abby continued, guiding the group to the door directly across from Abby's "is your bedroom."

Abby had such a huge grin on her face that of course Ziva had to return the gesture, it was infectious.

Turning the knob, the open doorway revealed a soft auburn room with a full sized bed, a desk, set of drawers, and in the back of the room Ziva could see the door to a closet. The bedding was a deep red, all of the furniture was dark wood.

The Israeli stared on in awe as she entered her new room.

"This is really all mine?" She couldn't help but ask. In Israel she spent most of her time at Mossad, living in military style quarters, and at home Eli preferred to keep her room much the same. He didn't want her getting spoiled or soft he would say. _A soldier must fight for their earnings, not have it handed to them. How can you be strong out there when you are pampered in here? _His words echoed in her head.

Abby held in a chuckle. "Of course." The goth said, leading them to sit beside each other on the edge of the bed. The other three chose to stay in the hallway, giving them a bit of privacy.

"You're part of our family now Ziva and we want you to be comfortable here." Abby gave her hand a small squeeze. The two girls remained silent for a moment.

Her words meant a lot to Ziva, for the past two days her mind was reeling with thoughts of being alone, of never having a family again, of never having a safe place to go home to in times of need. Abby's words took away that fear.

"Abby?" Ziva said, so quiet Abby almost didn't catch it.

"Yeah?" Brown eyes met green.

"Would it be okay if I called you my sister?"

Abby felt a single happy tear run down her face which she gently brushed away, nodding her head quickly.

"I'd love that Ziva."

Smiling to each other, Ziva sent a short glance to the door, reminding Abby that everyone was still waiting out there.

"What are you guys waiting for?" Abby called out. "Get in here!"

Kate led the way as they entered the room, sitting down beside Ziva. Tim came in after her, sitting next to Abby. With no room left on the edge of the bed, Tony made himself comfortable and flopped down near the head of the bed, spreading out like he owned the place.

Almost as soon as he hit the mattress he grabbed a pillow from beside him and reached forward to hit McGee with it. Abby leant forward and lightly slapped Tony on the arm.

"Hey!" yelled Tim and Tony at the same time. Ziva and Kate were laughing slightly to the side of them.

Before another word could be said the sound of someone clearing their throat came from the door.

The five teenagers turned abruptly to see Gibbs standing there looking stern, but a faintly upturned lip showed that they weren't in any trouble.

"Problem up here?" He questioned.

There was a mixture of head shaking and 'No's in response.

"So I don't need to kick DiNozzo out?"

Tony shrunk a bit into the bed at that. "Well…" Kate started.

"I didn't do anything!"

"You hit Tim." Abby put in.

"You hit me." Tony answered quickly.

Abby and Tony stared down for a moment before their laughter broke it up.

"Lunch is ready downstairs." Gibbs announced, leaving down the hallway. Apparently, that was the reason he came up in the first place.

They all scrambled off the bed and filed out the door.

Ziva smirked when she saw she would be the last person out right after Tony. Right next to her was the pillow he hit McGee with. With practiced speed, she snatched up the pillow and hit Tony in the back with it before quickly throwing it back onto the bed.

"Hey!" Tony called out once again, turning around just in time to see the pillow fall back onto the bed as he did.

He was a bit surprised to see that it was Ziva standing behind him with a cat that ate the canary smile on her lips. Tony mock glared at her.

"No hitting." He pretended to reprimand, they both knew he was faking it though. "You don't want Gibbs to come back do you?"

Ziva laughed lightly at that, the sound melted Tony's heart. Ziva just grabbed his shoulders, turning him around, and continued to push him along with the rest of the group until he was walking ahead of her on his own.

They felt the loss of contact as soon as she pulled away, but both ignored it. _Do not get attached Ziva! You don't even know him! You could get hurt. _Even as these thoughts ran through her head she still knew she didn't want to leave his side as they sat dangerously close at the picnic table the group was eating at in the backyard.

She could feel the heat radiating off of him while she looked around the yard. Abby hadn't shown her out here yet. It was a fair sized yard; the table she was sitting at was right outside of the back door on the concrete patio. To the far right of the yard was a trampoline. The middle of the yard was wide and open, perfect for playing soccer or football. Toward the back of the yard was a large oak tree whose shadow covered almost half of the open area, hanging on one of the branches was a swing.

* * *

They sat around for a while, eating, talking, and jumping on the trampoline for a bit. Climbing off of the trampoline they saw the sun was much farther down by now. It was already almost six o'clock.

"We should probably get going." Kate announced as they made their way back into the house with a pointed look to Tony who nodded.

"Yeah, your mom will want us back in time for dinner." Tony agreed.

Kate noticed the look on Ziva's face, eyebrows knitted together and head cocked just barely to the side in confusion.

"Tony's dad goes away a lot on business, so he usually stays with me and my parents." Ziva nodded, remembering their introduction when Tony mentioned that Kate was his cousin.

"Well, I will see you soon then?" Ziva asked them.

"Yeah, I'll see you when we go shopping for your room." Kate answered.

Ziva nodded again, silent this time.

"Nice meeting you Zi," Tony said, squeezing her shoulder. "See you guys tomorrow!" He called out to everyone as Kate and he walked to the front door.

"Bye Tony." Ziva called back with a small wave. "Goodbye Kate." She added quickly.

Abby turned to Tim and Ziva. She was just about to suggest going somewhere when she saw Ziva blinking slowly then snapping her eyes back open, trying to stay awake.

"Ziva, you had a really long flight this morning and we did a lot this afternoon. You should go up to rest in your room. I'm sure you've got a bit of jetlag."

Ziva wanted to protest, pretend that she was fine, but then she remembered how different things were here. She wouldn't be seen as weak or useless, she would seem human, normal even.

"Yes, I do feel the jetlag quite a bit." Ziva said.

"Come on Ziva, I'm sure those cargo pants and that shirt aren't very comfortable to nap in. I'll help you find some of mine that fit. We're probably about the same size." Abby grabbed Ziva's wrist to lead her up to Abby's bedroom. Ziva tensed, but she was getting a bit more used to the constant touch, and quickly relaxed.

Abby's room was a dark red with all black furniture and bedding. Walking up to her drawers, Abby pulled open the skull shaped handle and dug out a pair of black boxer shorts and a bright green tank top with a chain pattern across the front. The taller girl thrust her clothes to the tired Ziva as Tim sat quietly on the bed.

"Thank you Abby, I will see you two later." Ziva said, sending a small smile to both of them.

Ziva changed in her bedroom and drifted to sleep thinking of her new life, with her new friends, new home, new country, and although she would never forget her first one, a new family as well.


	4. Chapter 4

It was eight o'clock and dinner in the Gibbs household was cleaned up, dishes and leftovers were put away. Jenny Gibbs stood with a plate of food outside of Ziva's bedroom. She put an ear to the door, listening to see if Ziva was awake. Not hearing anything, she gently tapped her fist to the door before moving her hand to twist the knob.

"Ziva?" Jenny called softly into the darkened room. Jen saw that the lights were off, the curtains were closed, and she could see the noticeable lump in the bedding.

Even more noticeable was the snores the teenager emitted. Jenny held in a laugh as she set the plate down on one of the bedside tables and sat on the edge of the bed next to the sleeping Ziva.

The second Ziva felt the shift of the bed she sat up rail-rod straight and reached under her pillow for the weapon that wasn't there. Ziva looked around, fully alert, but confused as to where she was. When she saw Jenny, it all fell into place and she relaxed. _I am with Jenny and her family in America. _My _family. My weapon is not under my pillow because I couldn't bring anything more than a knife through the airport._

Ziva sat back against her pillow and smiled to Jen. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Mhh. What time is it?" Ziva asked, thinking it was morning.

"Around eight-ish." Jenny answered, smiling at Ziva. She looked so childlike sitting in bed with her legs brought up to her chest, palming at her eyes and blinking the last of the sleep away.

Ziva was shocked. She was trained to wake up automatically at five o'clock each morning at the latest.

"Already? I have been asleep much longer than I thought." Ziva wondered aloud.

Jen giggled a bit at that. "No sweetie. Eight at night. You've only been asleep for a couple hours. I just thought I'd bring you up some dinner." She reached over to the bedside table and handed the plate to Ziva. Ziva sat it in her lap and picking up her silverware, cut up the chicken on the plate.

"Thank you Jenny." Ziva looked up at her. "For everything."

Jen put a hand on Ziva's leg and gave a gentle squeeze.

"It's going to okay Ziva. I'm here for you. We all are. I know they haven't known you for long, but Abby already adores you." Ziva smirked a bit at that. "And Gibbs tends not to like many people. Especially not this quickly, but I know that you two are very much alike. He surely already loves you like a daughter, just as I do."

Ziva covered Jenny's hand on her leg with her own hand. Ziva simply nodded in response before trying to change the topic.

"How are we alike?" She asked.

Jen let out a small chuckle at her changing the subject.

"You both keep things inside and hide them away. You won't let anyone else see your troubles or your weaknesses. You are both loyal to those you love. You would do anything for family. You both demand the respect of those around you. You can both be hard to get through to and you're stubborn as can be."

Ziva nodded again, looking down now and taking a bite of her food. Swallowing, she spoke up.

"I miss them already." She whispered, still not looking up. Jen waited for her to continue.

"I was scared for the first time in years." Ziva paused again, looking instead at their hands. "I thought I would be alone, without a family. I thought you wouldn't want me, that I would have to stay in Israel. In Mossad."

Jenny grabbed the plate and moved it out of the way back to the table and wrapped Ziva in a hug. Ziva froze at first, like she did with Abby, before responding to the touch and lifting her arms to Jen's back as well. Jenny whispered softly in her ear.

"Of course I would want you. I could never turn you away, or force you into Mossad like I know Eli did. You are here now, and I hope you are here to stay." Jenny could feel Ziva's arms tighten around her. "You are part of this family Ziva, and while I would never ask you to forget or even let go of your biological family, you need to know that you are welcome here and that we love you here."

They stayed like that for a minute before Ziva gathered herself and pulled away, wiping at the tears just starting to form in her eyes.

The two sat on the bed Jen just staring off into space thinking about what happened. Ziva did much the same, but ate her dinner as she did. After a while Ziva pushed away the empty plate and cleared her throat.

"Jen?" she asked quietly, hesitantly.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think…" Ziva trailed off a bit.

"Yes?" Jenny encouraged.

"Do you think it would be okay for me to call you and Gibbs mom and dad?"

Jenny sat up a bit straighter than before. That was the last thing she was expecting.

"I would be honored and I'm sure Gibbs would love that too." Jenny and ZIva smiled to each other, but Jenny's smiled faded a bit after a second. "Are you sure though Ziva? Like I said I would hate to take away your old life and family."

Ziva smiled sadly at this. "I don't think it would take their memory away from them. My mother loved you and my father" Ziva paused. "respected you. They will always be my Ima and Abba. But if I am starting a life here in America I think I will need the support of my parents."

Jenny brightened up again at that. "Well you are our daughter now. I think you should call us mom and dad if you want." Jenny stood up off the bed and grabbed the plate. "You should go back to bed. You had a long few days and we're going shopping tomorrow."

Ziva nodded and snuggled back down further into the blankets.

Jenny walked away, turning the light back off as she went. "Goodnight Ziva."

"Goodnight" Ziva paused and caught Jenny's eye. "Mom."

Jen smiled and stepped out into the hall, shutting the door behind her. She let out a big breathe and leaned against the wall. It was hard for her to believe that in just a day she had another teenage daughter. Hard to believe, but easy to love.


	5. Chapter 5

The breeze pushed through her long, curly brown locks. The smell of the ocean filled her nose. The soft, grainy sand squished between her toes as she waded through the crisp salty water. The sun was low, Ziva could see it wouldn't be long before it set and the warm air turned cool in the darkness.

The coastline was familiar; Ziva knew where she was right away. As soon as she set foot on the sand she immediately felt at peace. This was her safe place. The familiar. Ziva knew this place like the back of her hand. Most of her favorite memories were here.

Ziva stared down at the shallow water swirling around her feet. She was wearing a flowing white sundress that ended just above her knees. The water pulled back, taking some of the sand with it and exposing beautiful sea shells beneath it.

Ziva quickly bent down and picked a few up before the tide carried them away again. She stayed and waited for the water to go back down, so that she could find more shells. As she did, Ziva began walking down the beach a little as she did this. As she walked she wondered, not urgently but more inquisitively, how she was here. The last she remembered she was in America with the Gibbs family. She stared at the shells in her hand, focusing on when she got here, but was pulled from her trance when she heard a light splashing in the water. When she looked up she saw eleven-year-old Tali splashing through the shallow waters to get to her big sister.

A smile lit across both of their faces and Ziva wrapped her life-long best friend in her arms when she reached her.

"Shalom Zivy" Tali smirked when they pulled apart. "You got shells!"

"Yes, I was just collecting some." Ziva said, feeling a bit dazed at seeing her sister, her sister who, as far as she last recalled, was dead.

"Good, we can finish the sea shell necklace we started when we were here last summer." Tali smiled again and they both crouched to pick the shells that washed up on the shore.

The two sisters stayed like that for a while, just collecting shells and playing in the water, like nothing had ever changed. The sat further up, away from the water, and laid out the order they would put the shells in on the necklace.

As they placed them down Ziva spoke up.

"Tali, how am I here? How are you here? You- you were-" Ziva choked on her words, not being able to force them out.

"Dead." Tali finished for her, meeting her gaze. Ziva nodded silently.

"You left Israel by now, yes?" Tali said, not exactly answering her question, but finding a way to explain it on her own terms.

"Yes." Ziva managed to get out.

"And you live with Ima's friend? You are part of that family now. With her husband." Tali paused long enough to clear her throat. "and her daughter. Right?"

Ziva understood what Tali was trying to get at and moved closer to her on the sand, covering her sister's hand with her own.

"Tali, you are my akhot. You always will be, nobody will change that and nobody will replace you." Ziva squeezed the smaller hand beneath hers, "Okay?"

Tali was the one to nod this time, Ziva stared at her trying to see if Tali was still upset. Tali noticed, nodding again and showing her sister a small, albeit slightly sad smile.

"Abby is lucky to have you, Ziva, just like I am." Tali said. "Just like I was. You need to move on Zi, really it's okay. I know you will always be your sister, now you just have another one." Tali's smile grew and was less sad now as her reassurances helped her almost as much as they did Ziva.

"Okay, I love you Tali. I will miss you." Ziva said.

"I know. You too Zivy." Tali used her nickname for her big sister, lightening the mood before seemingly disintegrating into the air.

"Goodbye Tali." Ziva whispered. She stood up and, brushing the sand off of her legs and dress, walked on down the familiar beach. She thought about where she was going, the pier. She could faintly see it as the sky turned darker and the sun dropped lower. She had a feeling she knew what was going on now, and she knew who she would find at the pier.

Once she got closer she could see the silhouette of him sitting on the edge of the fishing pier with his feet hanging off above the water.

Ziva came to this place every summer with her family. Tali's favorite thing to do was collect shells in the surf. Ari liked to fish and climb around on the pier, as though he thought it was his own personal playground.

Ziva smirked at him, seeing that she was right. Ziva now knew that she was here to say goodbye to her family.

"Shalom Ari." Ziva said confidently from behind him.

"Shalom Ziva. Come, grab a fishing pole. I've got a feeling we'll be catching something good today." Ari instructed.

Ziva didn't answer, just did as she had done every summer for the past six years. Ever since Aunt Nettie passed on and they inherited her beach house. She picked up the fishing pole that was leaning against the rail and knelt down to the tackle box and baited her hook. After all of the times she had done this with Ari's help she was now a pro at it herself.

She sat down on the pier next to her brother with her baited fishing rod. Once she was settled, she swung the fishing pole and flung the hook out into the water, waiting with practiced patience for the light tug every fisher hoped for. Ziva wasn't her typically patient, calm self. For one of the only times in her life she felt nervous. She tapped her feet above the water and her hands swayed left and right, moving the fishing pole and scaring fish away.

"What is it Ziva?" Ari said slowly, reading her unusual body language. Ziva sighed.

"No one can replace you Ari." Ziva said solemnly, staring blankly at the water in front of her.

"Then why are you so worried?"

"I don't want to lose you." Ziva answered hesitantly. A real heart to heart with her big brother was a rare and cherished occurrence, although not unheard of. "You are- you were a good brother Ari. Even though everyone worried that you would go rogue, I still believed in you. You always stood up for me and protected me when I pretended I didn't need it."

"You are strong Ziva. You have a good family now too. I trust you will be safe with them, just as you were when I had your back." Ari reassured.

"Thank you Ari." Ziva said softly, turning to look at him only to realize that he was already watching her. "For everything."

Ari opened his mouth to speak when Ziva's head snapped back to the rod in her hands. The line was taut leading to the water and she could feel the light tug pulled the fishing pole away from her.

Ziva's hand tightened around the handle while the other reached to reel in her catch. The creature on the other end pulled back, but she continued to pull harder until the large fish flopped out of the water before her eyes and landed messily on the deck.

"I got it." Ziva announced, this looked to be the biggest fish she'd ever caught. Her proud gaze fell into a sad little smile when she turned around. Ari was gone. Forever. Ziva turned back to her catch and, with skilled hands and great precision she unhooked the fish and tossed it back out to the water. She stood near the edge of the small fishers dock and watched it swim away. It wasn't long before the fish was out of sight.

Ziva stared out at the horizon again, checking to see about how long she had been on the beach. The sun was now only about twenty minutes away from setting -and she knew exactly where she wanted to go.

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**Thank you so so so much to notyetlostfaith and tivaentirelyatyourmercy for helping me with this story. I love you guys!**


	6. Chapter 6

Ziva continued her trek down the deserted coastline. She soon saw exactly what she was looking for and more importantly, who she was hoping to see. There sitting on a wooden two person bench, was Rivka David.

Ziva was constantly reminded by anyone who met them how much she resembled her mother. From the distinct widow's peak to her deep, dark, telling eyes, to her broad chin, Mona Lisa smile, and her unruly, wild hair. Ziva was a near-perfect replica of her mother as a teenager.

Right now, Rivka sat still on the wooden bench, facing the water as the ocean breeze brushed her hair from her face. She wore an orange/pink summer dress accented even more by her tan skin and the transitioning sky. She looked stunning, and not just for a woman in her early forties.

The teenager walked fast, then jogged before stopped about ten feet away. She knew her mother saw her, but was waiting for Ziva to speak first.

"Shalom Ima."

"Shalom Zivaleh. How are you handling this?" Rivka was a woman who knew what she wanted and got straight to the point. It was the main reason she was able to handle being married to the director of Mossad.

Ziva, although she expected this, was still slightly in shock at seeing her mother. Her mother was her rock. Whenever she had something she needed to talk about her mother was always there to keep her head on straight. Ziva wanted to be strong for her mother, to show no weakness. She wanted her mother to see that she raised a wonderful child.

"I will be okay. I have spoken with Tali and Ari, and I know I will be safe and happy in America with the Gibbs'." Ziva reported lightly as she stepped forward and sat beside her mother on the bench. She sat further toward the end of the bench, as much as she wanted to hug her mother and climb into her lap like she did as a small child, she feared that her touch would send her mother dissolving into thin air.

"Good. How are they? Jennifer and Leroy?" Rivka asked casually, as if they were just chatting over the dinner table.

"They are well. Jen has been wonderful to me and I can see what a good man and father Gibbs is." Ziva paused, unsure what she wanted to share with her mother. In the end Ziva just opted to blurting out the news. "I asked her if I could call her mom and she said yes, that she would be honored. You will always be my Ima but I need someone there for me in America as well." Ziva rambled, but stopped the moment she realized it.

Rivka nodded. "I figured you would, or I at least hoped you would." She said wisely. "Jen will take good care of you, as will Leroy. They are good people and will love you just as I have."

"I know Ima." Ziva said. "I know."

They sat silent. This was how they worked, how they always were. They got right to the point and refused to fill in the emptiness small talk or unnecessary chatter. Ziva and her mother didn't need to say a word to know what each other wanted or to feel the others comfort. Their silent communication was something that was simply understood and that those around them became accustomed to over time.

They stared into the horizon, watching the sun slowly make its way down to the edge. When the sun disappeared Ziva could feel her Ima's hand on her shoulder give a soft squeeze. Ziva got the message. As she gazed at the now darkening sky, finding the shining moon overhead. One stage of her life was gone, but another part that was just as beautiful had now come her way.

"I will miss this Ima. I will miss you." Ziva said. She felt the warmth of a comforting hand on her shoulder become heavier and sterner. Turning around, Ziva didn't exactly find who she was looking for.

Instead of her mother, behind her, her father loomed over her smaller figure from where he stood as she sat on the bench.

"Come Ziva. I have started a fire. It is getting cold." He explained shortly, however a bit more gentle than normal. The change was barely recognizable.

Ziva, being the good soldier she was, stood as ordered and followed at his side, slightly behind him as the approached the fire pit he had set up a bit further up and away from the water's edge on the beach.

Ziva stood beside the fire, looking over the flames to see her father's hard eyes staring back.

"I assume you wish to speak to me about my new life." Ziva started, knowing her father wanted her to speak first.

"You did not stay in Mossad as I wished." Eli commented.

Ziva didn't shy away from his coldness.

"No. I will make a better life for myself in America. With the Gibbs family and my new friends." Ziva said strongly. "Without Mossad." Ziva added the last part in a clear voice, making sure he knew how serious she was.

"I see." Eli said, contemplating his next words. "You will be acting as their daughter now?"

"Yes. You will always be my Abba, but I need a family and support to succeed now. Do I have your blessing?" Ziva, just as she did with her mother, got straight to the point.

"Leroy is a good man. Jennifer is your mother's friend. If you and your mother wish for her and her family to care for you, I will respect that."

Eli nodded, ending his statement and Ziva returned the gesture. Ziva stared through the flames before her as her Abba's image evaporated and Ziva was left alone on the beach, standing under the moonlight, enveloped in the warmth of the fire.

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**Thanks again to Kristen ( .com) This whole dream was all her idea and she's been such a sweetheart about editing these chapters for me. I love you Kristen! (: and thanks to everyone who's been reviewing, sorry that I can't answer you all personally but I do read them and they mean the world to me333 you guys are great(:**


	7. Chapter 7

Ziva rolled over in bed and abruptly sat straight up. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed to rest on the floor, she began to rub the sleep from her big, brown, already alert eyes.

'The life of a soldier, always be ready for anything.' The mantra her instructors would yell at her as she trained and ran practice courses now resonated in her mind. 'Always be ready for anything.'

Ziva shook the thought from her head . That life was over now. She left the 'Officer David' version of herself in Israel. That Ziva left with her father.

She glanced around the room looking for the time. No clock. Ziva added that to her mental checklist of things she would need to get when she goes shopping today.

Standing to stretch, Ziva held her hands high above her head. With a sigh she left her room and crossed the hall to the bathroom.

When she was done she looked in the mirror at her wild hair. She ran her fingers through the untamed mane. The effort didn't do much, but it was all she could do without a brush.

Patting it down a bit with her hand, Ziva made her way downstairs. Hearing some noise, she followed it into the kitchen.

From the doorway she saw Gibbs standing by the stove, watching over the eggs frying in a pan.

"Morning Ziver." Gibbs greeted, not needing to look up to know she was there, before taking a sip of his coffee.

Ziva pulled out a stool and sat down by the bar at the end of the kitchen counter.

"Good morning Gibbs- erhm, um, actually there was something I wanted to ask you about." Ziva paused waiting for his response. Gibbs had a feeling had a feeling he knew what she was about to say. A little birdy came into bed last night with a big smile on her face.

Gibbs pushed the eggs around with a spatula. Turning to meet the teenager's now confidant gaze, he nodded for her to continue.

"Well I spoke to Jenny about this last night, but I wanted to check with you as well." Ziva took a calming breath as her confidence began to slip as she grew nervous.

Gibbs recognized this and figured it would help if she knew how carefully he was listening, how closely he really was paying attention. Seeing this he turned off the stove and moved the pan off of the burner. Putting down the spatula and grasping his coffee once again, he turned back to her. Walking over to her, he stood on the other side of the bar across from her. He put his coffee down and waited.

"I have a new life here now in America and I think I will be happy here. But if I want to have a good life, I think I need to admit that I will need some guidance. I will need the help of" she cleared her throat, trying to get the words out. "of my family."

Gibbs gave her a small smile, encouraging her to continue once again.

"I wanted to know if you would be okay with me calling you dad." Ziva said slowly.

Gibbs reached out and patted her hands, which were clasped tightly atop the counter. His hand stayed there, thumb rubbing comfortingly over her fingers in an attempt to relax her.

"I think, it would be my pleasure." He responded.

Ziva's shoulders dropped in relief and she smiled up at him. "Thank you." She hummed softly.

He tipped his coffee mug to her in acknowledgment before stepping away and moving back to the stovetop where the eggs had now grown cold.

Sliding them off the pan and onto a plate he placed the it in the microwave to reheat them.

The two stayed contently silent, both off in their own little thought bubbles.

The microwave beeped and Gibbs passed the plate and a fork to Ziva, who mumbled another thank you, wondering where Abby and Jenny were.

It wasn't until now that she saw the clock on the wall across from her. The time was nearly six o'clock in the morning.

Perfectly acceptable breakfast time for a marine and a soldier, which explained why they were the only two people up.

_Abby would surely still be asleep for a while and Jenny would probably be down soon enough. _Ziva guessed. Whenever Jenny visited in Israel, she was always an early riser for someone on vacation.

By the time Ziva and Gibbs both ate and their plates were cleared away, Jenny came down. Her stopped to rest of Ziva's shoulder for a moment as she passed by before she continued her way through the kitchen where she greeted her husband with a soft kiss.

He handed her the coffee he just made, knowing she would want it as soon as she woke up.

She smiled her thanks and accepted the warm drink.

Jenny sat down with Ziva. "How did you sleep?"

"Good, thank you." Ziva answered. Jen was still tired and wouldn't be up for a long answer.

Jenny just nodded and took a sip from the mug in her hands. Sighing, she glanced around the room. When her eyes landed on the clock she turned back to Ziva.

"How long have you been up?"

"I suppose I woke up at around five o'clock." Ziva responded.

"Hmm" Jenny hummed. "Early bird." She noted.

"Yes." Ziva said. "By this time any other day I would have already had a five mile run. I would have today, but I do not have running clothes, nor do I know my path around."

"Way" Jenny corrected. "You don't know your way around. We can get you some running clothes today"

Ziva nodded knowing she would want to get back to running as soon as possible. She didn't run yesterday either. Running was a habit she didn't want to quit. It was something steady and routine. It was a good time to think things through. It was something she needed.

"As for not knowing your way around, well, Tony runs every morning too. I'm sure he would love a partner, you could run his route with him if you'd like. I think he does three miles though, not five."

"Okay, I will remember to ask him about that today. Does he do cross country? He seems athletic." Ziva questioned.

Jenny smirked at her curiosity. She noticed yesterday that out of everyone, Ziva had taken to Tony the most. "No, not cross country. He is an athlete though. He plays football and basketball for the school. He runs to stay in shape in the off season."

Ziva nodded, trying to appear only half interested, but she made sure to store this new information in her head.

"You do any sports back in Israel?" Gibbs asked, rejoining in the conversation.

"Not for a long time. Mossad and and school took up my whole life there. But when I was younger I took dance." Her eyes and voice were far off and Jenny shared a look with Gibbs. They could both see how much she loved if , and how much she missed it now. Rivka always told Jenny about how wonderful Ziva and Tali did at their recitals and how much she wished Eli would let them continue with dance. Eli wouldn't budge though. 'Focus on Mossad' was all he would say. 'My children must focus on Mossad'.

"I forget, what kind of dance did you do?" Jenny asked softly.

Ziva smiled at the memories of lessons and recitals, of dancing all around the house until she was told to go to bed. "Ballet" Jenny nodded, the information coming back to her as they spoke.

"You know," Jenny started "your Ima was always very proud of yours' and Tali's dancing. During one of our last missions in Cairo that was what was constantly on her mind. She was so upset because she was missing your recital."

Ziva nodded knowingly. "She tried to encourage my to dance. She would have encouraged anything that took me out of Mossad every once in a while. She wanted me to have a normal life. Ima didn't want my world to always revolve around Mossad."

They continued talking for a while that morning and Abby eventually joined them for breakfast. Once she finished eating they all dispersed throughout the house to get ready for the day.

Gibbs escaped down to his basement, where he could work on his boat in peace, seeing as his team didn't have a case today. Jenny went for a shower in her bathroom. Abby and Ziva scavenged through Abby's closet looking for something remotely Ziva-ish for her to wear. Abby sent out a mass text for Tony, Kate, and Tim letting them know that they would be going to the mall in about an hour if any of them wanted to come. They all responded with something along the lines of "See you there" almost right away.


	8. Chapter 8

**Wow. I am so sorry. I went a month without updating and I've had a lot going on, but wow. A month is a really long time for me to not update and I really am sorry beyond words. I was worried for a solid 3 weeks that I lost my muse for this story, but now I think I'm back on track. Again, I'm incredibly sorry for the wait. I hope it's worth it3**

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Ziva, Abby, and Jenny met with Tony, Kate, and Tim outside of the mall before the group walked in together through the front entrance.

The mall was similar to the shops Ziva had been to in Israel, but this mall in particular was bigger than she had ever seen. It was big and loud and crowded and almost immediately Ziva wanted nothing more than to turn around and leave. She considered it and even stopped walking for a moment, but that idea fell out of the window when Tony walked right into her back, not noticing that she had stopped.

The two both gasped, Tony's hand coming to rest on Ziva's waist, balancing her to ensure that he didn't knock her over at the impact.

"Miztaeret." Ziva mumbled, grabbing onto Tony's hand on her waist with hers as she caught herself from falling forward.

"Huh?" Tony's brow furrowed in confusion as his hands slid back from her waist and he moved to walked alongside her.

"I said sorry." Ziva answered. Tony nodded.

"What language was that? It sounded like Arabic." Tony questioned further, wanting to keep up conversation with the girl whom he couldn't stop thinking about since they met just the day before. She captured him with just his presence and already he wanted to know more about her.

"Hebrew. I _am _Israeli after all." Ziva smirked, nudging his arm with hers jokingly.

Tony smiled at that, he liked that she was comfortable with him. He was about to say something else when Jenny came up on the other side of Ziva, tucking her phone into her pocket as she did.

"I'm sorry Ziva. I just got a call from work. I need to go in now, instead of staying with you for a little while." Jenny spoke up a bit louder, catching the attention of the others who were with them.

"I'm leaving now, so I guess Tony will still drive you guys home." A nod from Tony confirmed her thoughts. Jenny smiled to him in thanks before redirecting her attention to Ziva. "Here is my credit card. Buy whatever you need. I'm trusting you. Okay?"

"Yes ma'am." Ziva nodded. Jenny reached into her pocket, pulling out her wallet and handing Ziva her debit card.

Jen raised an eyebrow at Ziva as she handed it to her, but Ziva just smiled back politely.

"Thank you." Ziva said, pulling a small smile out of Jenny as well. Jenny knew Ziva wouldn't do anything stupid with her money. Ziva was a minimalist, a habit adopted by most Mossad agents. It was the way they worked. Going on a mission, you take what you need to survive and succeed. Nothing more, nothing less.

Jenny hugged Ziva lightly, then turned to hug her other daughter as well. Waving goodbye to the rest of the group, she walked away to the car park outside.

Ziva went to continue her conversation with Tony, when Kate slid up beside her.

"So do you want to get stuff for your room or should we get your clothes first?" She asked casually as the group continued walking, by now Tony had joined in with Tim and Abby's conversation.

"I do not need much for my room, just a few little things that can wait. I was thinking we could do clothes first, no?"

"Sure, well where do you want to go?"

Ziva looked around the mall as they walked. These stores were foreign to her, she had never been to any of them before. Luckily, Kate noticed the lost expression adorning her features.

"Let's get you some jeans first." Kate suggested, pointing them in the direction of the Old Navy store. The others saw this and followed. Ziva nodded and walked alongside Kate.

The store was huge with a high ceiling, bright signs, and far too many people. Ziva liked being in control and knowing her surroundings. Here, she was lost and confused. She hated it.

Abby came up beside her, hooking their arms together. Ziva stiffed but after seeing it was Abby and realizing she would need to get used to the constant contact, she relaxed her arm.

"Juniors are over here Ziva." Abby said, guiding her to the right side of the store. The boys hung back and wandered over to the left side, looking around at clothes for guys.

Ziva stood in between Abby and Kate as they tried to guess her pants size.

"I am a four." Ziva spoke up reaching forward for a pair of blue jeans that were her size.

"How many do you think I will need?"

Kate and Abby looked at each other for a moment, trying to estimate a number. Abby tilted her head t the side and nodded, before Kate looked back at Ziva.

"Pick five." Ziva nodded, sifting through the rack in front of her. She picked two pairs of dark blue jeans, two pairs of black jeans, and one pair of faded, light blue jeans.

"What else?" Abby wondered out loud.

"Cargos." Ziva answered, tilting her head to the shelf of them she saw on clearance in the next row over.

"Really?" Kate asked. Ziva simply walked over to the shelf and grabbed two pairs, one tan and one an olive green. Kate smiled at her, accepting her different style.

"So do you want to look at some skirts or short too?" She asked.

Ziva chuckled lightly, smiling back. "Shorts yes, skirts no. I am not a, girly girl, yes? That was always more of my sister, Tali's, style." Her eyes grew sad and glazed over, but only for a moment. "Where are there shorts?"

Abby offered her arm once again, which Ziva accepted more easily than before and Kate grabbed some of the pants from where they hung over Ziva's forearm and helped carry them.

"Toda." Ziva thanked. Kate had a vague idea of what Ziva meant. "You're welcome?" Ziva nodded, indicating that Kate's guess was correct.

The found a wall with piles and piles of shorts for Ziva to choose from. Ziva picked a few different kinds before they went to the register, paid and met back with the boys. When the left that store each girl had a bag in her hand, Abby and Ziva each carried a bag with Ziva's clothes and Kate had a bag with some shorts she found for herself.

"Got enough? Geez Ziva, this all yours?" Tony joked.

Ziva glared at him, but it was impossible for him to him the humor in her eyes. "If you must know, no these are not all mine. Only two of them, qand a=I do have to replace a full wardrobe after all." Ziva justified.

Tony put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Where to next?" Tim spoke up from beside the other boy.

"You need shirts." Abby pointed out, and Ziva nodded, but stayed in place not knowing where to go.

"We can look at JCPenny first." Tim suggested, knowing he needed to get a present for his sisters birthday anyways and she pointed out a necklace there that she had like the last time they were there.

They all agreed and walked a few stores down to JCPenny.

Ziva grabbed a several nicer blouses and some plain t-shirts, heading back to the fitting rooms.

From the room Ziva could hear her friends talking to what sounded like two other female voices. By the time Ziva checked to make sure her new shirts fit the only voices she heard were Abby, Tim, and Tony.

"Where is Kate?" Ziva asked as she stepped out behind them. They all had their backs to her and jumped a bit at her voice which came from only inches behind Tony's back. They all spun around to face her, Tony finding himself a breath away from being flush up against the Israeli.

"She found some of her friends, went off with them. She'll catch up with us later before we head out." Tony explained. Ziva nodding, stepping around him to go back out into the store.

Ziva was easy to shop for and was done with most of her wardrobe in only another half hour.

She now had pants, shirts, shoes and some essentials Abby and Ziva stopped into Victoria's Secret to get while the boys purposefully walked down to the food court to get sodas. Now all she needed were some odds and ends clothes and a few things for her room.

"Hey, um, Ziva?" Ziva looked to Tim who spoke up timidly. "You'll probably want a computer for your room and, well, I have an old laptop that still runs. It's kind of slow and could use a software update, but other than that it should work fine." Tim trailed off, waiting for her answer.

"Thank you Tim." Ziva smiled gently. Tim smiled back at her.

"Want to go check out Best Buy to see if they have anything we can use for it Timmy?" Abby suggested.

"That sounds good." McGee looked to Tony and Ziva who seemed to be hesitating. Ziva had something else in mind and Tony noticed Ziva's hesitation and was waiting for her to speak up.

"I was planning to start running again soon and need athletic clothes for that. I cannot exactly run in jeans after all." Ziva smirked.

They were silent for a moment, trying to decide where they all wanted to go.

"Okay." Tony spoke up "I'll bring Zi down to Sports Authority while you guys check out the computer stuff, kay?" He checked.

"Sure."

Tony met Ziva's eyes, which were practically asking him where to go.

"Let's go Zee-vah." Ziva rolled her eyes at him, but the corners of her lips turned up, calling her own bluff.

Ziva shuffled through a rack of running shorts. As Tony held up a neon orange and pink tie-dyed pair of spandex short. Ziva scrunched her nose at him and Tony laughed, putting them back.

"So you run?" Tony asked.

"Yes. In Israel I ran five miles each morning." Ziva explained.

"Wow, that's tough. I do three miles every day, except for Sundays. Sunday is fun day and fun day means no running." Ziva chuckled at that.

"Where do you run Tony? I need to find a good path to run, and since I am no longer training for Mossad I don't think cutting back an extra few miles each day would hurt."

Tony was glad she asked. "Why don't you just run with me tomorrow? I can show you my route and once you catch up with me, you could let me know if you like it enough to run with me more often." He smirked.

"I doubt I will be the one 'catching up' Tony, but yes I would like to join you." Ziva found shorts she liked and a pair of spandex to go beneath it, passing Tony to look through another rack, this one filled with sports bras. She grabbed a few that matched her shorts and stood in front of Tony, waiting for him to respond. Tony, however, went off into a daydream for a moment, anticipating seeing Ziva in the tiny shorts and sport bra.

He snapped out of it quickly enough though.

"Meet you at seven. Or is that too early?" Tony recovered, now excited for their run.

"Seven is good." Ziva said.

It wasn't long before all five teenagers met up once again and were on their way back out to Tony's car, stuffing the bags into the trunk and hopping into the seats. Tony drove, Ziva took the passenger seat and the rest were in the back with Abby in the middle. Kate was to her right, Tim to her left.

Ziva was able to let a sigh of relief out as they left the hectic shopping center and drove back to the quiet suburbs of their street.


	9. Chapter 9

The five teenagers clambered into the Gibbs household, all lugging a few shopping bags up to Ziva's room.

The bags piled up on her bed. Ziva immediately reached to organize it all and put it all away.

The others, however, had other plans.

"We'll do that later Zeev." Abby begged. "Let's hang out for the rest of the day and then I can help you put this all away tonight."

Ziva, reluctant to leave the mess until later, hesitantly pulled away and nodded, agreeing with Abby. Abby grinned widely and skipped out of the room, the rest of the group followed her without question.

The four filed out of the room and found Abby waiting for them in the kitchen. She grabbed some waters from the fridge, passing them to everyone.

"So, dad's still in the basement, mom's at work. There's a few hours until dinnertime. What should we do?"

"Trampoline?" Tim suggested.

"Movie?" Came from Tony.

"Nah, maybe later."

"Why don't we go swimming?" Kate asked.

There was a wave of agreement throughout the room.

"Okay, you guys go get your swimsuits and we'll meet at Tim's okay?" Abby instructed. It was obvious that she was enjoying leading them around today.

The boys and Kate said their goodbyes and hurried out to their own homes while Ziva chased after Abby who was already dashing up the stairs.

"Zeev, go change into your new bathing suit and I'll meet you downstairs in a minute,okay?" Abby paused, standing in the doorway of her own bedroom as Ziva caught up with her and turned to go to her own room.

"Alright." Ziva nodded.

They emerged at almost the same time soon after. Abby's bathing suit was bright green, bringing out the shocking color of her eyes. Ziva's bikini was plain black and didn't hide much skin at all. They each slid a large t-shirt over themselves, slid some sandals on, snatched a towel from the bathroom and hopped down the steps.

As they sauntered through the house they spotted Gibbs from the kitchen. He raised an eyebrow to them, silently asking what they were doing as he sipped from a coffee mug.

"We're going swimming at Tim's." Abby explained. Gibbs, still silent, just nodded and cocked his head slightly toward the backdoor, letting them go.

Out the back door Abby opened the gate and walked right into Tim's backyard.

"Timmy's house is the only one with a pool on our block so we usually come here. Beats going to the public pool I guess." Abby explained, sauntering through the yard to knock on a window at the back of the house.

Striped curtains pulled apart to reveal a smiling Tim. He cocked his head to the side, indicating for them to wait outside the back door. Tim came outside right as Kate cut through the Gibbs' yard and stopped beside them. Kate's bathing suit was a light pink bikini with brighter pink spots, the bottoms were hidden by a pair of cutoff jean shorts.

Tim stood with the girls feeling slightly awkward in his swim trunks. The blue and black stripes only made his chest seem paler.

"What are you guys waiting for?" called Tony, who was just now walking around the side of Tim's house. Ziva had to focus on his face and not his tan, muscular chest. _He works out. A lot._

"We were just hoping you weren't gunna show." Kate snickered back quickly. Ziva smirked while the the other giggled and Tony just rolled his eyes, continuing past them to the side of the pool. He kicked of his sandals, turning to see if they were following his lead. One by one they made their way over to the pool, although one in particular caught his eye; the last one to trail onto the concrete porch around the in ground pool.

Long tan legs appeared even darker against the large white t-shirt Ziva wore. His eyes were glued to her as she slipped her feet out of her sandals and pulled the shirt up over her head. The shirt dropped to the ground by her feet on the concrete along with everyone else's shoes and clothes.

Ziva, of course, noticed him looking and she fought to hide her grin as she walked over to the edge of the pool next to Tony. His eyes snapped up from her toned legs and stomach up to her amused eyes. _She saw me._ Tony knew right away.

"Ready? It's a little cold." Tony gestured to the pool.

"How cold?" Ziva asked, unsure if she wanted to swim in a freezing cold pool.

Tony dipped his toes in and Ziva followed his lead, trying to get a feel for the water. Tony figured she would mimic him and was glad she did. The moment she was standing on just one foot, he reached for her waist and tossed her into the pool. Ziva, reacting immediately, held onto his arm and pulled him in with her.

They splashed into the pool and managed to nearly soak the others who were watching them. Kate reached out for Abby's hand and Abby, reading her mind, grabbed onto Tim and they all jumped into the pool together, landing directly in front of Tony and Ziva. It wasn't until Abby landed only inches from him that Tony backed away, taking his hand off of Ziva's waist.

They all spent the afternoon swimming around, diving into the pool and playing a few rounds of Marco Polo.

The teens were all beginning to tire as Abby and Tim shared on float, Kate and Ziva shared another, and Tony sat on the edge of the pool and they all passed around a Nerf football.

A phone buzzed from the pile of discarded shoes and clothes playing a little tune. They glanced around looking to see whose it was when Kate pushed off of the float and hopped out of the pool to answer the phone.

She picked up the cell phone and read the screen.

**Message from: Steve**

Kate smiled reading the alert and clicked **View.**

_Hey Kate(: I was wondering if you wanted to go out again tonight? I had a great time last week and wanted to take you out for dinner._

Kate's grin grew as she replied.

_I'd love to, what time?_

She keyed in and pressed send, looking back up to the rest of the group. Everyone was smirking a bit to her, wanting to know what someone might have said to make her so happy.

"Who was that?" Abby asked, her voice making her amusement clear.

"Steve Adler, we went out to see a movie together last week and he wants to take me out to dinner tonight." Kate shared.

"Steve from the football team?" Tony inquired.

"Yeah, he's a wide receiver." Kate confirmed. Tony nodded. "Good guy." marking his approval for Kate to date him. Although they were cousins, they acted more like brother and sister, always looking out for each other while still teasing each other.

"Wide receiver?" Ziva asked from where she was still lying on the pool float, holding her hands out for the ball.

"Football position Zi. Does a lot of catching and throwing." Tony explained, spiraling the ball to her. Ziva nodded, understanding.

"We really need to get you to a football game." Abby put out. Tim and Tony nodded in agreement, Kate was busy with her phone again. Steve answered her.

_I could pick you up at six?_

Kate checked the time. **4:47**

_Sounds good(: See you soon!_

"I should go, Steve's picking me up in about an hour." Kate stood, collecting her phone and shorts in her hand, wrapping herself in a towel and slipping her sandals back on. The remaining four waved as she disappeared through the Gibbs' yard.

Abby leaned over, resting her head on McGee's shoulder. "Our little Caitlin's growing up." She joked, looking to Tony.

He laughed back, shrugging a bit. "Steve's cool. Treats his girls right, a good teammate. I'm not worried."

"This is great!" Abby exclaimed. "Now we can bring her out on double dates." Abby nudged Tim's side and he laughed too.

Ziva's eyes snapped back to them, "You two are dating?" Ziva inquired.

Abby nodded.

"Three months." Tim added. Ziva smiled at how proud he sounded. _Figures. They are cute together._

Abby tilted her head up and kissed his cheek lightly, making his blush a bit as he wrapped his arm around her side.

They stayed in the water for another hour until a brown haired girl, about fifteen, came out of the back door.

"Hey guys." She waved, eyes stopping at the new face. Her eyes silently asked who she was.

Ziva sat up some, nodding to her. "Shalom. I am Ziva David, I just moved in. Abby's family adopted me." She introduced.

The girl accepted the answer with a nod, "I'm Sarah, Tim's sister." She explained, turning to her brother. "Mom wants you to come in. Dinner's almost ready."

"Sure, I'll be in in a minute." He assured her and she returned back into the house.

Tim got off of the float and climbed the little ladder out the pool, Abby following and Ziva not far behind. Tony stood up from where he sat as well.

They all grabbed their towels and what-not. Tim gently kissed Abby goodbye and waved to Tony and Ziva. Ziva watched Abby as Tim went back inside. Her green eyes shined as the followed him and a content smile graced her features. The look on her face was priceless, she seemed like she couldn't be happier with anyone else.

The Israeli pulled her gaze away before Abby noticed. Tony walked with them through their yard, and turned to go down the street to his house when they got to the door. Meandering up the stairs, the girls parted at the top and proceeded to change into dry clothes in their own separate rooms.

Ziva had just put on a pair of shorts and a tank top from the bags on her bed when there was a quick, energetic knock on her door.

"Come in." Ziva called back, allowing Abby to bounce in and begin digging through the pile on Ziva's bed.

"Want help getting this sorted out?" Abby said already separating shirts, pants, pajamas, and other clothes into piles.

"Thank you." Ziva accepted the offer, also beginning to sift through the shopping bags. Ziva moved the bags from 'Bed, Bath and Beyond' to the floor for her to deal with after she had her clothes put away.

With Ziva standing on one side of the bed and Abby on the other they had all of the clothes organized.

Five piles: shirts, pants, pajamas, underwear/bathing suits, and clothes that should be hung. The first three piles were put into the chest of drawers against the wall across from Ziva's bed, the fourth and final drawer stored Ziva's shoes.

Ziva opened the closet door behind her and pulled out a handful of clothes hangers, setting them down on the bed. Ziva reached to the final pile. There wasn't much in this pile, just a light jacket and two sundresses that Kate and Ziva insisted she get. "You'll need one for the Fourth of July part next week anyways." They reasoned.

Her clothes were shut away and Ziva and Abby quickly grabbed the last few things up off of the floor. A digital clock, which was put on the bedside table, a basket for Ziva's dirty laundry was placed in the corner near her drawers, a picture frame which Ziva filled with an old picture of her, Tali, and Ari was hung on the wall above her desk.

Ziva plopped down onto the bed with Abby right beside her. They stayed there talking until Jenny got home.

She knocked lightly on the door as she entered, placing a bag on Ziva's drawers. Ziva and Abby both looked at her curiously, asking what was in the bag.

"You guys went to the mall, not a regular store. I figured you would've forgotten about the basics." Jen explained, looking to Ziva now, listing what she bought. "Toothbrush, hairbrush, deodorant, razors, toothpaste, face wash, and I got you some body spray, just in case. I wasn't sure if you would want some or not, but you have it now."

Ziva was slightly surprised. She continually had to remind herself that she was allowed to just be a teenager now; that she didn't have to do everything for herself anymore.

"Thank you." Jenny smiled back at her.

"Now come on you two, I picked up Indian food on the way home. Let's go eat." The girls scrambled off of the bed and followed their mom downstairs where Gibbs was dishing food out onto plates.

Sitting at the table Ziva couldn't help observing the people around her. They all had one thing in common, other than their last name. They all cared about her and they all cared about each other.

* * *

**Thanks again to Kristen (tiva-entirelyatyourmercy) for all the help you've been giving me through out this story. I've been getting tons and tons of ideas and she's the one who tolerates me constantly messaging her and actually helps me think them through. ILOVEYOUKRISTEN**


	10. Chapter 10

As usual Ziva David sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes at no later than five o'clock. She turned, planting her feet on the floor to stand. Her tan arms stretched upward toward the ceiling and she rolled her head from side to side, cracking her neck.

Padding across the hall to the bathroom, Ziva opened the drawer where she stored her toiletries the night before. She pulled out her purple hairbrush and ran it through her bedridden hair, brushed her teeth, and went downstairs to grab some breakfast.

Like yesterday, Gibbs was there. Unlike yesterday, so was Jenny.

"Good morning." Ziva greeted.

"Morning." Gibbs replied, lifting his coffee to her.

_He drinks far too much of that coffee._

"Are you always up this early Ziva?" Jenny asked instead.

Ziva shrugged, as if it was normal for a teenager to be awake and out of bed at 5:30 in the morning during summer vacation.

"I suppose. In Israel I always woke up at five in the morning. If I got up later I would not have time to run or train before school." Ziva reasoned. Jenny nodded, understanding that her life in Israel was different.

Jenny made a silent bet to herself that Ziva would break the habit and be sleeping in within a week from now.

"Want breakfast Ziver?"

"Toast maybe, but I will make it. Where is the bread?" Gibbs gestured toward the cabinet near the fridge. Ziva nodded, beginning to prepare her breakfast.

"Did you talk to Tony about running in the mornings?" Jenny asked, keeping up the casual conversation while Ziva dropped the bread into the toaster.

"Yes. He and I are going to run together today at seven." Ziva smiled, excited to go running with him today. She wasn't sure which part she was most happy about, running or Tony.

Over the past two day Ziva had become part of the group and would consider herself friends with all of them, but with Tony it was different. Tony was the easiest to talk to, easiest to get along with, easiest to be around. She wanted to spend time with him more than anyone else. She wanted to talk to him, to know about him. Tony was just different.

Jenny nodded, looking at the clock and seeing that she had to start getting ready for work. Jen gave Jethro a pointed look and he nodded back to her.

"We should get ready for work." Jenny said, slipping only partially into director mode in order to get her husband to go get ready.

Gibbs pushed himself from where he leaned against the edge of the countertop, looking at Ziva and rolling his eyes to her as he followed Jen back upstairs. Ziva smirked and shrugged to him as if to say 'What can I tell you?'

She finished her breakfast and went into the lounge, flopping onto the couch and turning on the TV. She still had an hour before she had to meet Tony. She flipped through the stations, not knowing the local channels, but casually switching from show to show. At 6:40 she stood up, turned the TV off and made her way up the stairs.

Gibbs passed her on her way up, saying goodbye as he went.

As she reached the top of the stairs Jenny was just shutting the door to Abby's room.

"I told Abby already, but we are leaving for work. If you need anything, call. We should be home by dinner, but we'll call and let you know if not. I let her know that you were going running with Tony so she won't worry if you leave. Have a nice day Ziva." Jen smiled, kissing Ziva's cheek before passing her and leaving the house for the day.

Ziva continued to her room to get dressed and then brushed her teeth in the bathroom again before stepping outside and meandering over to Tony's house on the corner. She stood on the front step and knocked briskly on the door one, two, three times and stepped back a bit.

"One minute." She heard Tony calling from inside and what sounded like him jogging down the stairs before the door swung open revealing Tony in an Ohio State t-shirt and a pair of red and gray running shorts.

Like yesterday at the pool, Tony tried not to stare at her exposed, toned stomach and her long, toned legs before pulling his gaze to meet her shining, amused eyes. He was caught. Again. Tony grinned back at her.

"Ready to go?" He asked, daring her.

"Lead the way?" She confirmed, stepping out of the way for him to go first. He cocked his head and they started off with a steady jog down the sidewalk, Ziva stayed a step behind him since she had to know where he was going first.

They jogged four blocks before they got to a park entrance, finally getting off of the hard, structured concrete and onto the mulch and dirt of a running trail. Here they sped up, running side by side, each of them pushing the other to go faster. Neither spoke, both focusing instead on their breathing. In, out. In, out. Steady, deep breathes attempted to cool their burning lungs. In, out. Calm breaths as the wind rushed through their hair and their feet pounded on the ground below them. Their muscles worked hard as they allowed their minds to drift, not thinking about anything. Just focusing on maintaining their breathing. This was why Ziva was so anxious to start running again as soon as possible. She needed this part of her life.

The trail twisted and turned as they passed tree after tree, looping around a pond and leaving again through where they entered the park. Instead of going straight back, Tony lead them to turn right, running on the street they were already on instead of crossing like they did before. Ziva followed his, only a step behind him at all times. When he sped up, she sped up. When he slowed down, she slowed down. Eventually they crossed the road and went into their neighborhood through another road.

Slowing their jog they ran together to Tony's front door. They stood for a moment, catching their breath by the front door. They were both good runners, so it didn't take long. They each had a thin, light layer of sweat on their foreheads, but nothing more than that.

Tony jerked his thumb back over his shoulder to his house.

"You want to come in for a drink?"

"Sure." Ziva accepted, waiting while he unlocked the door.

Ziva followed him, once again not knowing her way around, into the kitchen. Ziva stood in the doorway of the kitchen while Tony fished out two water bottles from the refrigerator. Looking around she could tell he was the only one that lived here most of the time.

Although it was clean, there was only one breakfast dish in the sink and one from dinner last night. He placed his keys in a small dish on the kitchen table. His were the only ones there. His shoes were the only ones by the door.

"Come on." Tony said, heading out into the lounge. They sat down and turned on the TV. The movie Tony was watching before resumed playing although neither paid much attention.

"If you do not mind me asking Tony, I know you said your father is away on a business trip, but I wondered, where is your mother?" She asked carefully. Tony leaned back into the couch, taking another long swing from his water bottle, finishing the last gulp and placing the empty bottle on the table beside him. He sighed.

Looking her directly in the eyes and sitting up straight again, he spoke.

"She passed away when I was eight. Mom had cancer. She was dying for over a year before the night she died. For her last two months she stayed in the hospital." His voice was a whisper, although he fought to stay strong. "I stayed with her every day, went to see her right after school and stayed until visiting hours were over. Dad came some days, but he couldn't really handle seeing her like that I guess. He started throwing himself into his work, staying extra hours to fill his head with anything other than the idea of Mom lying in that hospital bed."

Ziva reached out and grabbed his hand giving a reassuring squeeze. Her lips were silent, but her eyes told him he could stop if he wasn't ready to talk about it. He shook his head minutely, resiliently.

"That last night, I was at the hospital with her. We watched Angels With Dirty Faces together. Halfway through the movie something went wrong. I don't really know what happened."

Tony closed his eyes and saw that night again with perfect clarity.

_The stark white hospital room smelled far too strongly of cleaning solution. The lights were dimmed for the movie. Eight year old Tony lie down in the hospital bed beside his mother, curling into her side._

"_Always remember. Don't be a sucker." Tony repeated quietly, mimicking the character on the screan._

_Before the next line could be heard the machines near the bed beeped and lights flashed abruptly. Tony looked around the room, not knowing what to do. He turned to his mother._

"_Mom, are you okay? What do I do mom? I don't know what to do!" He babbled frantically, standing up and gripping his mother's hand, trying to get her to answer him. A blank, empty stare. A gasp for air. Three nurses rushed into the room, flicking the lights on as they raced through the doorway. One stood in front of the machines, checking to see the problem. Another beside the bed, across from Tony, checking his mother to see if she would respond to her. The last nurse grabbed Tony's hand, pulling her a few steps away from the bed to give the other nurses room._

"_Mom! What's wrong with my mom? You gotta help her! Please, help my mom." He begged the nurse holding him out of the way. The nurses beside the bed and machines exchanged information, trying to decide what happened and what they needed to do to save their patient. Another alarm went off on the machines. Her heart beat was dropping far too fast and the nurses knew they couldn't do much. She was a terminal patient. Her heart was giving out._

_They nurse holding Tony back looked at the little boy._

"_Say goodbye now bud." She said, nudging him back to his mother's bedside._

_Tears now streaked down his face, green eyes only showing pain and loss before she was even gone._

_Tony reached up and grabbed his mom's clammy hand. His lip quivered as he chose his last words._

"_Love you mom. I'll make you proud." He whispered, voice cracking as he choked out the words._

_The faint squeeze returned to his hand ensured that she heard him, but he did not get a spoken answer. Ever. The machine stopped beeping. The nurses turned the machines off and one brought him to the front desk to call for his dad._

Ziva's fingers ran over Tony's knuckles, attempting to calm him without over crossing the boundaries of the new friendship.

His hand squeezed hers back before reaching into a drawer on the coffee table and pulling out a small box. He opened it and shuffled through to find what he was looking for with his free hand. Pulling out a small pile of photos he leaned back next to Ziva handing them to her. Their hands remained locked together as she held them with her free hand.

The picture was faded and the ink was smudged on the edges from where it was held. A seven year old boy with sandy brown hair and greenish hazel eyes stared back at her from where he stood smiling beside a tall blond woman.

"This is your mother." Her voice laced with the awe she was feeling. It sounded like a statement, but Tony nodded anyways. Ziva smiled to him brightly, comfortingly.

"She was beautiful." Tony took the picture back into his hand gently. He stared for a moment, tilting his head.

"I guess she was." He paused. "I never thought about it before, really. She was always just, mom. Not a beautiful woman." His voice held hints of confusion at this discovery. They sat looking at the picture before them for a few silent moments.

"Does it get easier?" Ziva asked, thinking of her own family.

Tony knew what she meant.

"It's stops hurting as bad eventually. Doesn't mean you stop missing them, you don't. Doesn't mean you don't wish more than anything that they could be in your life again. Having good people and family around helps. Kate's dad was my mom's brother. They helped me through it, went through it with me while Dad was out drinking and trying to show off his money at some high class place with a new girl every week. You won't stop missing them, but it will get easier to go on without them eventually. Especially living with the Gibbs. You couldn't ask for better people."

The conversation was cut off by the ringing of a phone.

"Sorry, just a sec." Tony snatched his cell phone up off of the coffee table.

"Hey, Tony here." He greeted, listening to whoever was on the other line. Whatever was said had him staring at Ziva.

"Sorry, I think I have plans today, maybe another time." He listened again.

"Alright man, I'll talk to you soon." Tony hung up after that.

"Is everything okay?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah, just a friend asking if I wanted to go some summer festival thing with a bunch of other kids."

"You did not want to go?"

"Nah, it sounds cool, but I'm not really into that whole crowd. They expect that just because I'm on the football and basketball team that I would only want to be friends with people in that crowd. They think it's weird for me to hang out with Tim, who won last year's Robotics Competition and went to Chess Camp three summers in a row. They don't get why I hang out with Abby who is the smartest scientist I've ever met. They don't see that they are really great friends." Tony shrugged, unsure what to say after that.

"So you are going to stay here today instead?" Ziva checked, unsurely.

Tony grinned to her.

"Couldn't offer me better people."


	11. Chapter 11

The teens dribbled a basketball, occasionally passing or taking a shot at the hoop in Kate's driveway. Steve came over too and spent the afternoon with them. Everyone already kind of knew him except for Ziva, who was introduced. Abby and Tim didn't really talk to him much before aside from him being paired with Tim for gym class one week in sophomore year and Abby was once recommended to tutor him once when he was falling behind in science.

The sun was getting lower and it was now six o'clock. Abby had gotten a call from her parents telling her they would be home late. Gibbs' team caught a case and Jenny was going to stick around the office with him for a while and wouldn't leave until later that night.

"Steve you want to stay for movie night?" Tony asked.

"Sure, that sounds good. What movie?"

"I don't know. You can pick if you want." Tony offered. Steve just shrugged in agreement.

"Want to head in and order the pizza now?" Tim suggested.

Ziva could tell Friday movie nights was a regular thing for them. They had a pattern established. They knew they would watch the movie at Tony's house. They knew they would order a pizza from the same place as always. It was normal for them. They four had known each other for a long time, Tony and Kate since birth. Abby met them in Kindergarten and Tim moved in and switched to their school when his dad was assigned to the Quantico Naval Base when Tim was seven.

They had been having these movie nights since they were nine. Tony always had movie nights with his mom and missed them when she was gone, so he started inviting his friends over on Fridays to watch with him since his dad was always too busy for them.

They all walked down the street while Steve called his parents to let them know when he would be home and Kate called and ordered a pizza.

Tony unlocked his door and they all found their way toward the lounge room that Ziva had been in for the first time just that morning. Earlier that day she had not failed to notice the shelves upon shelves of movies on bookshelves. They ran along the wall on each side of the ginormous TV and down another wall as well. For the second time she was astonished by just how many films one person could own.

Ziva skimmed through the shelves, viewing the array of titles, many of which she had not seen before as the others scattered about. Steve sat down on the couch with Kate curling into his side. Abby went down the hall and came back with a few comfy blankets for them from a linen closet out of Ziva's view. Tim and Tony escaped into the kitchen, reemerging minutes later with drinks for everyone.

Ziva returned to the group when everyone else finished what they were doing and came back to the couch. Ziva reached down from where she stood grabbing a red plastic cup labeled in marker with her name amongst the others and took a sip. Lemon-lime soda slid down her throat, but the taste hinted at another flavor lurking beneath. She made a face at Tim who stood across the small coffee table from her, and held up her cup, asking what was in it.

"It's Sprite with some Redbull."

"Redbull?"

"An energy drink." Ziva nodded in acceptance and took another sip, this time more confident than the last.

Tony jogged back down the stairs with some cash in his hand. Just as he reached the bottom, the doorbell rang. He pointed to Steve.

"Go ahead and pick the movie while I pay for the pizza." He instructed, walking past them to answer the door.

He came back in with some change and a large pizza box in his hands.

He put the box on the coffee table, careful not to tip over any drinks.

"Be right back." Tony excused himself, backing off into the kitchen again and reentering the lounge with a handful of paper plates. Kate reached forward and opened the pizza box, revealing the cheese pizza. The smell wafted up and it wasn't until then that they all realized how hungry they actually were.

Tony put a slice on a plate, handing it to Tim, then another to Kate, then Abby, Ziva, and himself, putting one aside for Steve who was still searching for a movie.

Tony grabbed one of the bigger blankets, spreading it out on the floor and pulling two throw pillows off of the couch to go along with them.

Abby and Tim sat down on one side of the couch, her head resting on his shoulder and their fingers laced together. Kate sat with her legs crossed Indian style on the other side, waiting for Steve to come sit back down.

"Looks like we get the floor this time." Tony nudged Ziva's shoulder with his as he passed her.

Steve pulled a movie down and slid it into the DVD player, reclaiming his spot beside Kate and leaving no room for the other two on the couch.

"What did you pick?" Abby asked.

"You're going to have to wait and see." Steve teased. Abby scrunched up her nose before sighing and relaxing into the couch as the opening credits started.

Tony and Ziva sat on the blanket on the floor, Ziva's head resting slightly against Abby's knee and Tony's head on a small space of couch between Abby and Kate's legs.

Abby's fingers threaded through a few pieces of Ziva's locks, absentmindedly braiding a small chunk of curls. Ziva closed her eyes, memories of movie nights much like this with her siblings encasing her senses.

She would sit on the floor, her sister half on Ari's lap on the couch with her mother on the couch beside them. Tali would reach down at some point or another to comb through Ziva's hair with her fingers or start a loose braid.

Ziva sighed contently and opened her eyes again.

"Really Stevie?" Tony joked. "Pirates of the Caribbean?"

"Hey" Ziva poked his ribs, glad that it was something she had seen where she wouldn't be completely lost for the next two hours. "I like this movie. Johnny Depp is a good actor." She defended.

Tony rolled his eyes. "We need to get you educated with some _real_ movies Miss Dah-veed."

Ziva shook her head and rolled her eyes, although Tony could see the humor lurking in the brown orbs. He smirked and turned back to the movie.

Abby stayed in her spot for a moment once the movie had ended. Ziva's head that was resting on her knee at the start of the movie now leaned against Tony's shoulder and his arm at some point had snaked around her waist.

She smiled down at the two of them as Tony whispered to her, explaining an expression used in the last scene. They liked each other, she could tell. It was obvious. She nudged Kate with her elbow and sent a pointed look to the floor.

Kate glanced down and smiled brightly up at Abby, nodding in agreement to Abby's unspoken words.

Tim leaned up, whispering into Abby's ear.

"Try not to mettle, please? Let them get there on their own." Abby groaned lightly, only enough for him to hear, but ended in a small nod.

"Fine." She hummed out in reply, standing from her spot and stretching a bit.

"We should head home Ziv, Mom and Dad aren't home yet, but it's late. They might be back soon."

Ziva nodded, getting to her feet. Tim stood as well, knowing he had to get home soon.

The table was cleared of their trash and dinner and the movie and blankets were stored away.

"Bye Tony!" Abby enveloped him in a tight hug. Tony laughed, hugging back.

"Bye Abs" Abby let go grabbing her phone up off the table.

Steve clapped Tony on the shoulder. "Thanks for having me over man."

"No problem Steve." Tony smiled widely to his friend.

Everyone began filing out the door and Tony held the door open for them, saying his goodbyes.

Ziva paused in the doorway a little.

"I will see you at seven tomorrow?" She checked, raising an eyebrow. Tony nodded, glad that she would be running with him from now on. He realized he liked having a partner by his side, or maybe it was just he liked having Ziva by his side.

"Good night Tony." She smiled lightly to him and turned, continuing out to catch up with Abby waiting with Tim out in the driveway.

Kate, who was the last one out, also stopped in the doorway. Tim might have told Abby not to mettle, but not Kate.

"You would be good together." Tony's eyes widened before he recovered himself.

"Who?" He asked, trying to play it off.

Kate rolled her eyes. "You know exactly who." Kate glanced around outside, her eyes landed here and there but stayed on Ziva longer than anything or anyone else. "She would be good for you." Kate shrugged, walking out onto the sidewalk.

Tony watched from where he stood. Abby, Ziva and Tim walked to the Gibbs' house where he knew Tim would cut through the yard. Kate leant up on her toes just slightly to kiss Steve goodbye before he hopped into his truck and drove away as Kate practically skipped to her front door and inside.

Tony sighed, shutting the door. He had only met Ziva three days ago and he already felt like they had been friends for years.

"Oh, and Ziva, I got that laptop working for you. I forgot to tell you yesterday. I'll be right back." Tim jogged off through the yard up to his house. He returned a minute later with a laptop case in his hand.

"Here you go." Tim smiled, handing it to her.

Ziva thanked him, before dismissing herself up to her room. She had a feeling they wanted some privacy.

She changed into pajamas, a pair of cheer shorts and a tank top, and sat down at her desk, opening the computer case. She unzipped the main pocket, revealing an older version of a Mac, which was perfectly fine with her. Ziva knew that with the software Tim and Abby had updated that it would walk like brand new. At least, that was how she thought the saying went. She undid the Velcro of the smaller pocket, unwinding the charger, but leaving the instruction manual inside.

She plugged the charger into the wall and attached the other end to her computer. The machine whirred and the screen blinked once before turning on. Ziva stored the manual and case into one of the empty desk drawers, logging in.

She guessed by the setup that Tim had completely reset the computer, explaining the popup asking which browser she wanted and the plain blue of the screensaver.

Ziva setup quickly, logging into her email for the first time in almost a week. She had emails from other Mossad agents giving their condolences and a few friends asking that she keep in touch. She replied to the condolences with simple 'thank you's and 'keep safe's, not bothering to respond to the others. She did not want to keep in touch with most of them.

In Israel, she did not have any close friends because all of her time outside of school was dedicated to Mossad and her father would never fail to remind her that friends are people that can be lost. When you have the enemies that come with her lifestyle, they tended to take advantage of anyone close to you, for information and for blackmail.

Ziva had known this was true. One of the missions she had been on was to save a friend of an agent who was being held by a smuggler in order to attract the agent. They had barely managed to save her and almost lost one of their own in the process, but for them it was worth it. They knew the risk they took.

She felt the emails from her friends were a tad superficial, like a signature in a yearbook.

It seemed like the equivalent of 'Have a great summer! I hope we hang out soon'. Most people did not actually want to spend time with her over the summer, but felt it was the polite thing to say.

The back door opened and shut, followed by light footsteps coming up the stairs. The door across the hall shut. _Abby._

Done with her emails she pulled up google maps and began to search for where she wanted to go. She paused for a moment, thinking. _Today is Thursday. I can walk around to find one tomorrow, or maybe see if Tony would drive me._

The sound of a car door opening, closing, and being locked followed by one person wearing heals entered through the front door. _Mom is home. Dad is going to stay all night working his case._

Heals clicked up the wood of the stairs, pausing across the hall and opening Abby's door. Murmured talking for a moment before Jen shut the door and redirected herself the few feet to Ziva's door.

A soft knock before the handle turned.

"Hey Ziva, Tim got that computer working for you?" Jen asked stepping just inside the doorway and leaning against the frame. _She has had a long day. Perhaps this should wait. _Ziva reasoned. _No, I need to get this out of the way._

"Yes, I was looking at something that I wanted to ask you about."

Jen's eyebrows jumped up at this.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I was hoping I could find a synagogue around here that I could attend, if that is okay with you."

Jen stepped forward, smoothing her hand over Ziva's soft curls.

"Of course you can. I would never try to take that away from you."

Ziva smiled gently up at her, her eyes thanking her without words. Jen's hands slid down the curls to rest on Ziva's shoulder and she adjusted to stand behind Ziva's chair between her and the bed.

"Did you find somewhere nearby?" Her eyes skimmed the screen. Ziva turned fully toward the computer again.

"Yes. I found two actually. I was hoping to go check them out tomorrow. One is closer, I think I will walk. The other one I was thinking about seeing if Tony could drive me."

Jen nodded, even though Ziva couldn't see her. "Okay, let me know how it goes. I should really get to bed though, and you should too. Are you still going to run in the morning?"

"I am." Ziva shut out of the window, standing up and facing Jenny.

"Good night mom."

Jen gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Night Ziva."

Jenny left and Ziva mentally instructed herself to wake up at six instead of five. It always worked. She could just decide when she wanted to get up and she was only ever a few minutes off. Ziva lay down in bed and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Ziva and Tony ran as planned and Tony had agreed to drive Ziva to check out the synagogue she wanted to go to, insisting on driving her to both even though she insisted she could have walked to the first one.

She went home and showered, while he did the same at his house and, dressing in a slightly formal blouse, jeans and sandals she met outside where he had pulled his car up to his driveway. She jogged out to the car, printed out directions in hand.

"Where to?" Tony said starting up the car.

"Go out to the main road and take a left." She directed him through the drive, going first to the synagogue closest to the house.

There, they found an office where they talk to a woman about their services, what time they would be, who the Rabbi is, other organizations within the community, everything. Tony felt awkward sitting with them in the office and excused himself to take a call, which he did not actually need to do at all, and instead waited out in the car.

Ziva came out ten minutes later.

"How was your call?" She smirked. Tony just chuckled.

"I'll stay in the car at the next place if you don't mind."

"Do not worry, and I think I will enjoy this place. I do not need to go to the other synagogue." Tony nodded as they pulled out of the parking lot. "I am sorry you drove me now that I am only going here. I could have walked."

Tony shook his head now. "Don't worry about it. I don't mind. Really." He shot her a smile before his eyes were forced to remain on the road.

Ziva sat back in her seat. "Thank you."

"No problem Zee-vah."

* * *

**So my computer broke the other day and it's working again now but Word Document isn't working at all. I will try to get it fixed and if not I might have to just type everything up on a different computer and keep it all on a flash drive. I'll see what I can do. This is meant to be a warning because this may make my posting erratic. I am sorry. I hope you like this chapter though, let me know what you think (:**


	12. Chapter 12

"You are sure about this, yes?" Ziva asked uncertainly, running her hands along the fabric to smooth over the sundress she was wearing. It was a soft, creamy white with a dark brown stripe of a belt along the waist, matching her brown sandals.

Tonight was the Fourth of July party and Kate, Abby, and Ziva were all in Abby's room before the party. They had already helped set up outside and were now getting themselves ready.

"Definitely!" Abby ensured from where she stood behind her in the full length mirror, hands resting on her shoulders giving a supportive squeeze.

"Of course" Kate insisted. "Besides," she shrugged "I'm sure Tony will like it." Kate finished casually, fixing a piece of her own stray hair in the mirror while she watched for Ziva's reaction without fully meeting the other girl's eyes.

Ziva's jaw slackened for a moment before she pulled a stone mask over her features. Too late. Kate saw it, and by the slight smirk edging up on the corner of Abby's lips, which she was failing to hide, she had seen it too.

"Why does that matter?" Ziva deadpanned.

"Oh, stop it Ziva. It's obvious you too like each other. You've only been here for a week and that boy would go to the end of the world and back for you."

"And I can tell you care about him just as much. You're so much more open and happy when he's around. It's" Abby paused, thinking of the right word "nice" she added, supporting Kate.

Ziva turned around now, facing the other two girls. A faint heat rose to her cheeks and she was just barely able to hide the all-telling blush from her face. What she couldn't hide was the shyness, laced with joy, dancing across her eyes. Those eyes could tell a thousand stories without her mouth making a single sound.

"We are friends, like I have become friends with you two, Tim and Steve. Tony feels the same way." Ziva attempted to shrug it off. No big deal.

Wrong.

"Whatever Ziva." Abby rolled her eyes, smirking still, but no longer bothering to try to hide it. "Forget it, but trust us. You look great and Tony will think so too, whether he likes you or not." Abby smiled and Ziva murmured a small thank you, still unsure about the dress.

"So who is coming to this party?" Ziva asked, quick to take her opportunity and change the subject.

Kate picked up, reentering the conversation.

"A ton of kids from school, some of your parent's friends from work, some of your family, and most of the people from our neighborhood."

_That is a lot of people._

"You'll get to meet some of the other people around here that will be at our school this year." Abby supplied.

Ziva nodded.

"They should be here soon. We should probably go downstairs." Kate suggested.

They reached the backyard, checking with Gibbs and Jen to see if they needed help with anything.

"No, we're fine. You look lovely though, all three of you." Jenny smiled.

"Thank you" came from the girls nearly simultaneously. Gibbs walked up to them, carrying a radio out to the yard. He nodded his approval.

"Ya look good." He cast his gaze over each one of them before walking away and placing the radio to rest on the edge of the picnic table.

Before the girls could respond the back gate opened as Tim let himself in, leaving the gate to swing closed behind him.

"Hey Tim!" They waved him over to them and he obliged, setting a stack of CDs down beside the radio.

"Hey McGoo!" Tony called from behind them where he was coming around the side of the house.

The boys were both dressed more smartly than usual, Tim in a green polo shirt and jeans and Tony wearing a white and brown button down shirt folded up to just below his elbows and cargo shorts.

Tim gave Abby a peck of the cheek as he approached.

"You look beautiful Abby." He whispered into her ear, glancing down at her black, strapless dress decorated in skulls and her black flats. She did not wear her platforms as much during the summer due to the heat, which, as much as Tim adored her style, he enjoyed the larger height difference he had over her.

Tony came up to them too, leaving the box he was carrying under his arm on the ground he goofily slung an arm over both Kate and Ziva's shoulders. "You both look good too" he added to Tim's statement, knowing what he was murmuring to Abby that had the million dollar smile wide across her features.

Kate smirked to Ziva who pretended not to notice before looking up at Tony and rolling her eyes.

"No, really!" Tony assured "You look beautiful." He made sure to look at both of them, although his gaze lingered on Ziva far longer than Kate. Ziva, not usually one to be at all bashful, felt a faint blush hinting at her cheeks and had to duck her head momentarily to hide it.

A silence fell over them for a moment before Ziva changed the subject.

"What is that?" she asked, jerking her thumb over to the box Tony was previously carrying. Tony laughed, going to retrieve the box once again, showing Ziva the front of it.

"Fireworks for later." Tony grinned. The box was huge, filled with all different kinds of fireworks. His smile was infectious and soon adorned Ziva's face as well.

Ziva had only seen fireworks a few times before, each time were for New Year's Eve. Her family went to see them every year until she was twelve. By then both her and Ari had started some form of training and would have to get up too early in the morning to watch for long.

Watching them every year was always one of her favorite things and it was something she looked forward to each year. To say the least, she was excited to see them again.

From the yard they all heard a car pulling into the driveway, followed by the sound of their front door opening. Jen smiled knowingly at Gibbs who nodded to her and wandered into the house to great the guest. It was not hard for them to guess who it could be. There weren't many people who would just walk straight in like that, even though most people who had been there before knew the door was rarely locked.

He stepped back outside a moment later with an older man whom Ziva had never seen before, but everyone else seemed glad to see him.

"Hi Jen, how are ya'?" He greeted Jenny with a light hug and a kiss to her cheek.

"I'm good, how about you Jack?"

"Can't complain." He winked, turning to a bouncing Abby who was eagerly waiting beside her mother.

"Happy Fourth Grandpa Jack!" Abby cheered, getting a hug as well.

Jack chuckled. "Hi Abby, and how are you kiddo?"

"Fantastic" Abby smiled.

Jack nodded kissing her cheek as well before looking to the rest of the group. He found a few familiar faces whom he recognized from many of the Gibbs' other parties except for one. He had talked to Gibbs and Jen on the phone several times in the past week, so it wasn't hard for him to guess who this new face might be.

"You must be Ziva." He suggested.

"I am, and I suppose you are Grandpa Jack?" She pulled together from the greetings that he must be Jethro's father.

"That would be correct. How are you liking it here so far?" He asked.

"It is nice, I miss my home every now and then but I like it here very much." Ziva assured with a light smile. Jack nodded to her, turning to the younger Gibbs.

"You need help with the grill?" He asked his son. Gibbs did not bother with an answer, just nodded his head toward the grill and lead the way.

By eight o'clock the yard was full of people. Most were teenagers, but there was also a mix of adults. Gibbs' team from NCIS had shown up, along with both Tim and Kate's parents. Some of Jenny and Jethro's other friends had come too and Ziva had met countless people already.

There was Mike Franks, an older man who seemed much like an older, sadder version of Gibbs. Ducky, she learnt, was very sweet although she had some trouble escaping to go back with her friends when he began telling a story until Tony came and saved her. She had met both Ducky's grandson Jimmy who was a year younger than she and Jimmy's mother Carol. She met one of Jenny's friends Cynthia as well.

Not to mention the kids whom she would be going to school with. There was a blonde named Paula, a muscular looking boy called Damon, Nikki, Brent, Chad, Cassie, and Breana.

The teens were mingling about. They had all eaten the hotdogs and burgers Jack and Jethro had cooked and were now chatting. Tim and Cassie had set up Rock Band for the Xbox in the lounge room and a few people were playing that. Abby was steadfastly avoiding an awkward and, admittedly creepy boy, Chip.

Ziva was talking to Chad Dunham when Tony rushed up and pulled her aside, excusing himself to Chad as he did so.

"You know how absolutely amazing you are right?" Tony tried, in an almost begging tone. Ziva could tell right away he needed her help with something and was trying to bribe her into it.

"Of course." She joked. "What do you need Tony?" Tony sighed, glad she seemed to be willing to help him out.

"My ex-girlfriend Wendy is here and she's been calling me for weeks trying to get back together and I don't want to so can you please pretend to be my girlfriend because she's on her way over here now?" Tony got out quickly, looking over Ziva's shoulder enough for her to guess that she was over there.

Instead of answering she leant up and kissed him. The kiss was long and deep. His hands went to the back of her neck and her hands rested on his chest. They held it for over a minute before they pulled apart for air. Tony noticed the amused smirk tugging at her lips and glanced behind her. Sure enough Wendy was gone. Tony sighed gratefully.

"Thanks Zi. I owe you." He said, placing another kiss to her cheek. This one was simply grateful.

She smiled widely at him. Sure, it was supposed to be fake and it did not really count, but he was far from a bad kisser, as was she, and she would be lying if she said it was anything less than amazing.

"Anytime." Ziva smirked, Tony chuckling in response. It had grown dark by now and a thought popped into Tony's head as he remembered something. He grabbed her lightly by the elbow.

"Come on." She went with his as he pulled her back toward the house and into the kitchen. On the counter sat Tony's box of fireworks.

Ziva chased behind him as he raced out into the driveway, setting the box down.

He ripped open the plastic and, carefully looking over his selection, chose one of the plastic tubes. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket to light it up. He jogged down to the end of the driveway, set the firework in place and lit the end, hurrying back to Ziva's side just in time to watch the sky light up with red and blue.

Ziva's features showed complete awe at the image painted across the sky and for a moment, Tony wanted nothing more than to keep that childlike happiness on her face there forever.

The group that previously filled the lounge now trailed out into the driveway to watch the show.

Tony cocked his head to Tim and Steve and they all went down to the end of the drive, lighting up another set of fireworks, these ones even bigger than the last. With three going off at the same time the sky was completely illuminated in the bursting light of the fireworks. They stood back, watched and ran back up to light more. The pattern continued for another couple of hours. It turned out Tony was not the only one who brought fireworks for the party. Apparently Jack brought some for the kids to use and Abby got some too.

At eleven the last few people were leaving and the group started cleaning up. Once they were done Tony, Tim, and Kate headed home, grabbing overnight bags before returning to the Gibbs house for the night.

They all gathered in the lounge, dragging a mattress out from the basement so that they would have enough room for everyone to sleep.

They setup up the pullout couch as well, so that they had that, the mattress and the chair. It was easily decided that Tim and Abby would take the pull out, Kate and Ziva would share the mattress and Tony could take the reclining chair.

Tony started a movie that he brought over and they all grew quiet. Kate however could not wait to say what she was itching to get out. She pulled out her phone, typing something before putting her phone away. Nobody noticed except for Ziva, who has ninja senses and even if she didn't, was sitting right next to her.

A moment later Ziva's phone vibrated beside her. She immediately knew who it was before she even looked. Gibbs had gotten it for her just yesterday and the only numbers she had were the people sitting beside her, Jenny, and Gibbs. She had a few new contacts added earlier that night, but doubted it was any of them.

Sure enough the screen blinked Kate's name.

U kissed Tony. What happened? Ziva sighed lightly, not enough for anyone to notice, before typing in a response.

It was nothing. He did not want a girl to punch on him so he asked me to pretend to be his girlfriend.

Kate smirked at the message, knowing that as much at that was true, it did not mean either of them did not like the kiss anyways.

*hit on him. Was it good?

Ziva could not help the slight smile tugging at her lips.

He is not a bad kisser

Kate did not bother replying after that, just smiled at Ziva, nudged her arm while holding in a giggle before continuing to watch the movie.

Ziva woke again the next morning at six. A quick look around the room showed four sleeping teens and the smell of coffee lingered in, luring her into the kitchen and letting her know that Gibbs, and most likely Jenny too, would be in there.

She stood from her spot, stepped over Kate and rounding the couch, and looked down at Tony. She was unsure if they were running today or not, but she figured she might as well find out. Glancing around the room she honed in on an object resting on the side table right next to the chair he was sleeping on.

Snatching up the water bottle and twisting the cap open she tipped it above his head allowing a small stream of water to drip onto Tony's hair and face.

He jumped up, eyes snapping open, almost knocking the recliner back.

"I'm re-" He shouted out before Ziva's hand covered his mouth, keeping him quiet. She chuckled lightly trying not to wake the others. When she was sure he would be quiet she pulled her hand back.

"Are we going for a run?" She whispered.

Tony rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Sure. What time is it?"

"Six." Tony nodded to her as she headed to the kitchen, him following her lead.

She smiled to her parents, who were both sitting at the counter and drinking coffee as she entered.

"Good morning." She greeted quietly.

"Morning Ziver."

"Good morning. How did you two sleep?"

"I slept better than I woke up." Tony shrugged. Ziva laughed and the adults just looked at them, not knowing what they were referring to.

"You two running soon?" Gibbs wondered.

"Yes" Ziva answered, pealing a banana. "Do you want something to eat Tony?"

"You guys have cereal?" Ziva nodded, grabbing a bowl from the counter behind her, a spoon and milk from the refrigerator.

She gestured to the cabinet. "The cereals are in there." She directed.

He picked a box of coco puffs and poured it into the bowl. They sat down eating with Gibbs and Jenny for a while until they left for work and they decided to get dressed for their run.

They took their usual path. Breathing steady, in and out. Most of the run they were quiet, just focusing on their footfalls on their breathing. In and out.

Returning to the house, Gibbs and Jenny had left for work and the other teens were still asleep.

"I am going to go shower. I do not think my parents would mind you using their shower if you would like." Tony nodded in agreement, sneaking into the living room without waking the others and returning to follow Ziva upstairs, separating at the top.

Tony wandered back downstairs fifteen minutes later to find Ziva and Tim starting a game of pool in the den.

"Hey Tim" Tony greeted. Tim smiled back.

"Morning Tony."

They talked idly throughout the game, which Ziva was easily winning, not that Tim was competitive enough to mind. Abby and Kate joined them eventually and padding aimlessly through the house to find the others.

After they finished their game the five detoured into the kitchen for Kate, Abby, and Tim to eat breakfast, as Tony and Ziva ate before their run.

Bellies full, they all dispersed throughout the house. Tim, Abby, and Kate went to get dressed while Tony and Ziva returned to the den, engaging in another game of pool.

They were equally skilled and the game was incredibly close between the two. The other three returned to the room, watching the rest of the game.

The day went by lazily, playing pool, board games, card games, and video games mostly.

Kate left at noon, saying that she was driving with her family to pick her sister up from the airport. She had been away at college and was studying during the summer too, only coming home for this week.

Tony left not long after, remembering that his friends had wanted him to be on their team for a pickup basketball game at the park.

Tim stayed until dinner time when he got a text from his mom telling him to come home.

Abby and Ziva sat in Abby's room later that night, goofing around and taking pictures with Ziva's phone.

Abby went to click back to the photo album and accidentally clicked on the message icon instead. The last conversation Ziva had, which was what popped up, was the conversation Ziva had with Kate the night before.

Naturally inquisitive, Abby quickly skimmed over the texts, finding it strange that Ziva had been texting Kate when they were laying right next to each other.

Abby's jaw dropped and her eyes bugged out of her head. She squealed and sent an attack hug Ziva's way.

Ziva was too shocked to respond and did not have time to recollect herself and determine what caused Abby's abrupt actions before Gibbs knocked on the door, entering right after.

He heard the scream and wanted to check and make sure everything was okay. A quick look around the room showed that his girls were out of harm's way. Knowing he would never understand Abby's reasoning, he did not bother asking about the cause of her shriek and instead said goodnight before leaving.

Abby turned back to Ziva the moment the door shut behind her dad.

"You kissed Tony!" She whisper yelled excitedly, as if it were a secret she was just barely containing.

Ziva's features brightened, remembering the kiss, at the same time that she tightened facial muscles, masking over the emotion the held.

Abby just sat grinning widely.

"Tell me everything. All the details. I need to know. Don't you dare leave anything out." She rambled before silencing herself to allow Ziva to talk.

Ziva sighed, knowing she had no way out of this conversation. She recalled the details, leaving out the butterflies she felt in her stomach, how badly she just wanted to keep kissing him, and how the thought had crossed her mind that she might enjoy being Tony's girlfriend for real someday. She did not think those thoughts would be voiced anytime soon.

The other girl was obviously excited but tried to tone her reactions down to keep her father away and not embarrass Ziva.

An hour later Abby's eyes dropped, the caffeine-induced energy supplied by countless Caf-Pows wearing off as it got later. Ziva excused herself to allow Abby some sleep and escaped into her room for the night. She lie down on her bed, dressed in pajamas about to go to sleep when she heard her phone buzzing against the wood of the bedside table. A forward text from Tim. Ziva smiled reading the message, excited for what was to come. The message had also been sent to Abby, Kate, Steve, and Jimmy.

**We need to start planning Tony's b-day party. We'll talk about ideas soon.**


	13. Chapter 13

_A surprise party? _That was Tony's guess, but when Kate, Abby, Steve, Tim, and Ziva were all in his room at eight in the morning on his birthday, he figured that was not the case.

Tony was asleep still then, Ziva told him she was not feeling very well the night before and did not think she would be up for running in the morning and he felt weird running without her now. The five teens crept through the back door of Tony's house, using his hidden spare key to get in. Up the stairs and down the hall they slipped through Tony's bedroom door, all without him waking up. Abby set the small box she brought with her down on Tony's desk before moving with the others to surround the edges of his bed. Steve marked with his fingers 1…2…3!

"Happy Birthday Tony!" They cheered, jumping up on to his bed and watching his surprise as they laughed over his widened eyes and even wider smile.

Tim stood up and grabbed the Tupperware Abby set down and picked up the candle and lighter from the inside the box as well. Ziva came over and pulled paper plates out and opened the Tupperware stacking a few pancakes on one of the plates and spreading some whipped cream on top. Tim stuck the candle on top and lit it. He and Ziva stepped back to the bed.

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!" They all sang, while Ziva brought the plate over and set it on Tony's lap. "Happy Birthday dear Tony, Happy Birthday to you!" Tony blew out the candle on his pancakes, trying not to laugh as he did.

"Thanks guys, this is great." He smiled wide, looking around at them in appreciation. "But why so early?"

"Because, Tony-boy," Abby smirked. "We have to be out of here in three hours and _you_ still need to get packed."

Tony's raised eyebrows asked the question before the words were even out of his mouth "Where would we be going?", his voice full of amusement.

"For us to know and you to learn." Ziva spoke up.

"Find out. For me to find out, Zeevah." Tony corrected. "How am I supposed to pack without knowing where I'm going?"

"Tim and Steve will help you pick what you need." Kate informed.

Everyone finished off the Tupperware of pancakes, Abby and Ziva went back home to get their bags and Tim's bags to put in Steve's car trunk while Kate got her bags from her house to pack into the car as well.

The group packed in Tony's presents as well and covered them in a blanket so he could not see them when he put his duffel bag in the trunk. He had been told to pack for four days, to bring casual clothes and a few dressier outfits as well as two bathing suits.

The ride out was fun, Steve drove with Kate in the passenger seat telling him when to turn ever once in a while. Abby and Tim sat behind them, and Tony and Ziva sat all the way in the back with a cooler in the middle seat.

They listened to music and ignored Tony's constant guessing at where they were going. He finally gave up and instead proceeded to pester Ziva, who was next to him, and roll up paper balls out of napkins to throw at Kate. Ziva rolled her eyes the first time he poked her side, even smirking a little. After the fourth time though, she grabbed his hand faster than he could pull away and bent it back.

"You will stop now." Was all she said. He nodded, she let go, he did not poke her again for the rest of the car ride.

They did not want to stop if they didn't have to and instead ate lunch on the rode, having sandwiches and drinks that were packed up in the cooler. Ziva had been up early that morning, packing, making the sandwiches and helping Abby with the pancakes once Abby woke up.

Tony saw her yawn and trying to get comfortable where she was sitting, but he could tell she was still too uncomfortable to get any rest, so he moved the cooler to the ground and unbuckled her seat belt. This caught her attention and she looked at him in question.

He turned around to look over his seat and into the trunk, digging out a pillow and placing it on his lap.

"You're tired and you didn't have enough room to get comfortable. Now you do." He explained, putting a hand on her shoulder and guiding her to lay down and rest her head on the pillow in his lap.

Ziva got comfortable quickly, shifting her hips and tucking her hands under her head. Gentle curls crawled out and dominated over the white pillow. The soft, shining, falling curls were too intriguing for Tony to hold back. As Ziva allowed sleep to claim her, he ran his hands through her thick locks, over and over. Gently sorting it out over the pillow. Ziva smiled in her half sleeping state, enjoying the feeling. Tony saw the smile and took that as a good sign.

Ziva's soft snores filled the vehicle throughout the last couple hours of their trip.

"Tony, have figured out where we're going yet?" Kate asked from the front seat.

Tony looked around. They were now in New York. Near the water. He continued to think for a minute, knowing the area was familiar. The sight of a restaurant he had been to a thousand times struck his memory.

"Senior's beach house!" Tony realized aloud. Ziva shifted in his lap at the noise, moaning in her slumber as if she were waking up. Tony stroked her hair again, trying to soothe her into getting a bit more rest, knowing they would be going, going, going, without stop on their little vacation, now that he knew where this vacation would be.

Kate chuckled at him, knowing he would have gotten it.

"We're about thirty minutes away." Steve announced and their excitement rushed through the group like a wild fire, all of them itching to get out of the car and onto the beach.

Tony stared out the window, watching the luxurious houses passing by with quickly fading glimpses at the shore in between them.

The house came into sight soon enough and they rolled to a stop in front of the pale blue, two story building. Everyone filed out to carry in their bags and presents, except for Tony and Ziva. He ran a hand through her strong, waving curls one last time. His hand rested on her cheek and he stroked her with his thumb, running his hand down to her shoulder and nudging her.

"Come on, Zi. We're here." He said gently, leaning down to speak into her ear, still nudging her shoulder.

"Wake up Ninja." He pressed a friendly kiss to her forehead and that seemed to do it. Her eyes flickered open and a soft smile embraced her features when she saw Tony's loving face leaning over her.

"Good morning." She smiled up at him, eyes shining.

"Morning Zi." Tony chuckled. Ziva looked around, seeing that they were the only ones left in the car. She could have guessed that. They had been having these moments more and more lately, but only when they were alone did they allow themselves to be so sweet and vulnerable together.

"We should go join the others, yes?" Ziva said, sitting up against his side, pulling the pillow off of his lap.

"Yeah, that's kind of why I woke you up. Didn't want you to miss out on all the fun." He joked. She laughed and hopped out of the car, knowing Tony would follow as she rounded the car to the trunk where she lifted her duffle bag and present out, waiting until Tony had his bag as well before they both headed inside.

"Well look who finally woke up." Abby joked from where she sat on Tim's lap on the couch.

The two lay their bags down near the rest at the side of the room, Ziva setting her present with the others on the coffee table.

"Want to do presents now?" A wave of agreement washed through the room and Abby jumped up and grabbed a purple and black striped gift box off the table and thrust it out in front of Tony, where he had just sat down next to Steve on the other couch, with a wide grin.

"Mine first." She requested, perching herself on the armrest beside him while he undid the wrapping paper and opened the box.

Inside was a scrapbook. Flipping through the first few pages Tony found that it was all pictures from the last year of his life, starting with his last birthday party.

He wrapped an arm around her waist in a half hug.

"This is great Abs!" Abby smirked, hugging him back before returning to her seat between Tim and Ziva.

"Mind if I go next?" Steve asked to the group in general. Nobody objected as he reached forward, grabbing a red and white bag, handing it to Tony.

Tony pulled the tissue paper out from the top, dropping it on the ground beside Abby's wrapping paper.

He reached into the bag, coming out with a new football and an Ohio Statejersey.

"Thanks man!" Tony had been saying he needed a new football since he lost his at a game in the park a few weeks ago. Steve shrugged off the thanks.

"No problem, happy birthday."

Tony smiled back at him before Tim handed him his next present.

His bag was huge, Tony put it on the ground this time instead of his lap. The gift ended up being more like a whole gift basket. There was a pair of swim trunks, a t-shirt, sandals, a towel and beach ball.

"I figured it went with the trip." Tim shrugged uncertainly.

"This is all perfect, thank you." Tony reassured, knowing Tim wasn't always the best at picking gifts for people. This time he did a great job though.

There was a silence for a second. The two of them were like brothers and everyone knew it. What just happened felt like Tony subtly telling his little brother he did a good job.

Kate broke the silence first.

"My turn." She grinned, grabbing one of the remaining two gift boxes, handing it to Tony.

He unwrapped the box to find a few new movies resting inside a container made to look like the movie popcorn cups. There was also a small box of microwave popcorn and some movie candy. Tony laughed, it was such a Kate thing to do a themed gift.

"Thanks Katie." The brunette scrunched her nose at the nickname before smiling back at him.

"You're welcome."

"Who's this last one from?"

Ziva sat up a bit, grabbing the gift and handing it to Tony.

"Happy Birthday Tony." She winked, letting him take the box from her hands.

Her gift might have been one of the most exciting gifts he had ever received. A copy of 'Devil May Care', one of the James Bond novels. That was not what made it amazing though. After being instructed by Ziva, Tony opened the book to look at the inside cover. What he found had him jumping up and pulling her to her feet to wrap her in a tight hug, Ziva laughing the whole time.

Steve picked up the book from where it landed on the table and his eyes grew wide.

They remaining three looked at him in question.

"It's signed by Sebastian Faulks."

"How did you get that?" Tony asked, finally loosening his hold on Ziva a bit more, just keeping his arms wrapped lightly around her back, she kept her arms around his waist too. Ziva answered in a way that she was speaking loud enough for the whole room to hear, yet the way she only watched Tony, made them all see where her attention was.

"He had a signing at the new mall about two hours away from where we live and Jenny took me." She explained.

Tony hugged her again, subtly pressing a kiss to her cheek so that the others didn't see, but by the way Ziva held him a bit tighter right after, before letting go entirely, let him know she felt it.

"I love it, Zi. Thank you." He smiled widely in excitement at how amazing his friends really did know him.

They cleaned up the wrapping paper and threw it away. Back in the living room they all agreed that spending the afternoon on the beach and they spread out, all going off to find somewhere to change amongst the three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Back downstairs everyone pulled towels out of a linen closet, grabbed some waters from the fridge and some pool floats from the storage box on the porch beside the pool.

They headed out past the pool, from which they were only fifty feet from the water, and found a spot to put down their towels on the sand.

Abby was the first to think to pull out some sun block and quickly sprayed it over her front, Kate helping her spray her back before spraying herself and then handing the bottle to Tim. Tony, Steve, and Ziva insisted they were fine without it and rushed out into the water while the others waited for the sunblock to dry first.

Tony blew up the new beach ball and they hit that around in the water, the others soon joined them. A small splash from Tim was retaliated with a splash back from Kate, who ended up splashing Ziva in the process as well. In the end they all joined in and continued splashing for a solid ten minutes until they all went back to swimming around.

They stayed out until long after sunset, setting a bonfire in the pit further from the shoreline toward the pool and goofing off, not going inside until their stomachs began to growl in warning.

Trekking back inside everyone changed into pajamas and came back out into the kitchen where they found a pamphlet for a pizzeria nearby. Steve called in to order and Tony grabbed one of the new movies Kate got him, the new Men in Black 3 which had only come out on dvd a few days ago, and they all settled in, deciding not to start the movie until the pizza arrived so that they wouldn't be interrupted.

Tim insisted on paying, that it was Tony's birthday and he wasn't allowed.

The movie ended and everyone looked around for a moment, realizing they never agreed on which rooms were whose. Tony decided to take charge then, being the one who knew the house best.

"Tim and Abby can share the master. It's the one to the left of the stairs. Kate and Steve, you guy mind the guest bedroom?" He checked, receiving reassurance from both of them. "And Ziva you can take my old room. Right across the hall from the stairs."

They all grabbed their bags and went upstairs, Ziva trailing behind when she saw that Tony wasn't following.

"Tony?" Ziva called back from the bottom of the stairs, not continuing with what she was asking until he looked up with that charming smile of his. "Where are you sleeping?" All she got back was a shrug.

"Down here I guess."

"No." She said walking back into the living room and putting her bag down beside the couch. "It's your birthday vacation. You're not sleeping on the couch. Go take your room. I'll stay out here." She justified, already sitting back down.

"It's fine Zi, really. That room doesn't have a TV anyways and I'm not ready to go to sleep yet. I'm just gonna watch a few more movies. Go to bed." He made up an excuse, knowing he could easily fall asleep if he wanted to.

"You are a terrible liar Tony. I'm fine down here. Go." She insisted.

"Really Zi, I'm just staying down here and watching another movie." Ziva looked around the room.

"Fine." She said stubbornly, sitting down on the couch. "I would not mind watching another movie then either."

"Ziva," he started.

"What movie do you want to watch? Unless of course, you are ready to get to bed. In a bed. Upstairs."

Tony grabbed another movie from the pile and inserted it in the player, knowing Ziva wouldn't budge.

He sat down beside her, settling in for the movie, prepared to wait her out.

Halfway through the movie, Ziva spoke, not looking away from the TV.

"Are you going to sleep yet?"

"Nope." Tony replied, hoping she could not hear the tired in his voice. "You?"

"No thank you."

"Okay." And so they went, for the next hour. The movie ended and Tony grabbed another.

Partway through the movie they both drifted off, on the couch.

The upstairs bed stayed empty, both of them too stubborn to use it.

* * *

**That whole bit about who would take the bed and who would take the couch was kind of my take on trying to parallel what might of happened in Paris from the episode Jetlag. I hope you guys liked it!**


	14. Chapter 14

A camera flashed and Ziva's eyes snapped open almost right away, just a moment too late to see Abby lowering her phone in her hand to look like she was just casually holding it, not taking a picture of how adorable the two looked.

At some point in the night after they fell asleep on the couch they had leaned down, falling to lay length-ways on the couch. Tony was laying behind Ziva with his arm over her waist and his face buried in her curls, Ziva's hand rested over Tony's on her bare stomach where her shirt had ridden up as she slept. A blush crept over her cheeks as she realized their position, not that she regretted or disliked falling asleep and waking up in Tony's arms. She had come to think she was really beginning to fall for him.

"Good morning." Abby smirked. "Just came down to make breakfast and figured I should wake you up before the others come down. Don't want them making fun of you for your snoring." The goth jabbed. Ziva smiled back, a little more shyly than normal.

"If you would like help with breakfast I will be there in a minute." She said when she tried to get up and Tony's arm reflexively tightened around her. Abby nodded and glided into the kitchen, sending the picture to Kate before putting her phone down and taking out omelette ingredients.

Back in the living room ZIva had rolled over to be facing Tony. She wanted to wake him up so that he would not think she felt weird about them falling asleep like they did, which he would if he woke up alone. She ran a hand through his hair, tracing down his face to rest on his jaw, much like he had done to her yesterday in the car.

"Wake up Tony." She said softly. Nothing. "Tony." A little louder. Still nothing. Ziva sighed looking around. No water bottles were on the table.

"Tony come on, wake up." She said, her voice at a normal level. Ziva debated whether she should wake him up the same way he had woken her up or not. She felt weird about it, not knowing where their relationship stood or where they were headed. While she thought of these things, her fingers absentmindedly ran patterns on his chest. Tony awoke to the feel of her against him, her fingers tracing along his chest, and her breath mixing in with his.

Ziva was too preoccupied in her thoughts to realize that he had woken up and he had not opened his eyes by the time she reached her decision. She paused her hand on his chest, lightly gripping his shirt, pushed up that extra little bit and kissed him steadily on the lips, shocked when he immediately kissed back, not that she pulled away or was going to complain. They stayed like that for a moment, not daring to deepen the kiss because after all, they were just friends, right? But surely friends could do this, just this slow, touch of lips against lips.

They pulled back at the same time, knowing they could not continue without crossing an invisible, yet daunting, boundary. Ziva stared up at Tony. At his eyes which were hazel right now even though they were green sometimes. At his hair which went this way in that from a mixture of his sleep and her running her hands through it. At his cheeks where you could see he had gotten tanner yesterday. At his lips that she seemed to crave more and more. At his eyes. At his lips. At his eyes.

Tony stared at Ziva. Watching her watch his. He watched her hair as a few pieces drifted up and down with the fan. He watched her deep, dark eyes that continued to drift over his features. He watched her cheeks just faintly growing a hint of a blush, leaving him to wonder what she was thinking. He watched her lips where his had just been, where they still wanted to be. At her eyes. At her lips. At her eyes.

Their eyes met.

"Bover tov." Ziva greeted. Tony grinned, glad he had been learning some Hebrew expressions.

"A good morning it is." Ziva smiled back at him, understanding the underlying knowledge that he was picking up on her language for her. She leaned up and kissed him lightly and quickly again.

"Abby is in the kitchen and I am going to help her make breakfast if you want to come." Ziva invited.

"Sounds good." Ziva rolled over, getting up off the couch and Tony followed.

Tony groaned and cracked his neck.

"You should have taken the bed." Ziva smirked, knowing she was right and that he would want to spend the rest of the week sleeping in his bed.

"Zi?" Tony hesitated until she looked up at him and nodded for him to continue. "If we shared the couch last night, would it really make a difference if we share a real bed?" He suggested.

"Trying to get me in bed with you DiNozzo?" Ziva winked jokingly. She saw Tony worry for a moment, and backtracked, knowing he did not mean it like that. "I would not mind sharing the bed with you Tony." Her eyes softened and she grabbed his hand, giving a small tug for him to follow. He squeezed back and walked with her to the kitchen, dropping hands just before they opened the door. The last thing those two wanted were questions they did not have answers to.

The day went on and they had breakfast on the patio by the pool, Tony pushed Tim in, who was still fully dressed and not very amused. Kate found water guns and took one for herself, giving one to Tim too so that he could get back at Tony.

Once everyone finished cleaning up from breakfast they trekked out to the beach again, spending the day there until around three when Steve let everyone know what time it was. Everyone grew uncomfortable, Tony not knowing what was going on. He asked and watched as everyone looked from person to person trying to decide who would speak up. In the end, it was Kate.

"We had to, of course, ask your dad for permission to come down here Tony. It is his house and all." She started reasonably. "And he loved the idea and has no problem with us staying here" Kate paused, and Tony stared at her confusedly until she forced herself to continue. "as long as he can treat us all to dinner tonight."

Tony's eyes widened to baseballs and he dropped the shell he was about to try to skip on the water. A thousand things ran through his head. He wanted to yell and kick and scream and have a fit and insist on not going, but he knew that would not be fair to anyone else. None of this was their fault and they were just trying to give him a good birthday, which they had. But this was his father, who he had not talked to in over a week and not seen in a month. His father who was constantly in and out of his life, coming and going as he pleased. It just wasn't fair. Tony knew that he would have to suck it up and deal with it though. Seeing that everyone else seemed to be holding their breath he broke the awkward silence between them.

"What time are we leaving?" He asked calmly.

"Our reservations are for six thirty so we need to leave by six. I figure we should head in soon so that we have enough time for all of us to shower and get ready." Tim informed.

Tony nodded in acceptance. They all calmed down after that, staying outside for another forty minutes until Abby said that she was going to go inside to shower. Everyone else slowly followed after that, taking turns with the two bathrooms they had to share. They were going to a classier restaurant and were all dressing up nicely.

They girls went into one of the bedrooms where they plugged in the flat iron for Kate and Abby, but they insisted that Ziva should curl her hair, along with forcing her into some light makeup.

Tim called to them from down the hall at a quarter to six, letting them know they needed to finish up. Abby urged Ziva to put on some eye shadow, which Ziva persisted the deny. They slipped on their shoes and went downstairs to find the boys waiting in the living room with a movie playing as background noise. They stood up when they heard the girls footsteps on the stairs, but froze at the sight of them.

Needless to say, they looked gorgeous. Kate was in a silky peach colored blouse that matched her lips and a dark brown skirt, accenting her recent tan. Abby wore a simple plain black dress that hugged her figure along. Ziva was in a teal sleeveless top and a leathery type skirt, hair curled and pulled back into a ponytail, flaunting her widow's peak.

They boys recovered quickly and the group trudged out unwillingly to Steve's car. They climbed in, awaiting what was sure to follow the ride.

Arriving at the restaurant, Tony walked with false confidence to the hostess behind a small podium and told him they were with a Mr. DiNozzo. She smiled, saying he had arrived just before them and lead them to their table. Senior stood up from his seat when they arrived.

"Junior! Happy birthday. Good to see you." He greeted, clapping a hand over his shoulder and shaking his hand.

"Hi dad. Thanks for letting us use the beach house." He answered with a mask of a smile over his face.

Senior let go of him to greet his niece, giving her a hug and a kiss on the forehead. "You look more and more like your mother every time I see you, but with your father's smile." Kate smiled and introduced him to Steve, who stepped forward and shook his hand.

"Ah, Ms. Sciuto, how are you?" Senior hugged her, just as he had Kate. "I'm good Mr. DiNozzo." Ziva introduced herself and received a hug as well.

Senior gave Tim a hand shake and a pat on the back as well before gesturing for everyone to have a seat with the sweep of his arm. Tony sat down at the round table to the right of his father, with Tim on his other side followed by Abby, Ziva, and Steve with Kate on the other side of his dad.

Conversation was awkward and forced, but it did not stop. Senior talked through the meal, telling stories of where he had been over the past month along with the wealthy, influential people he had met along the way. Tony cringed every time his father tried to flirt with their waitress, a young blonde with bright eyes and a bright smile. Could he not get it through his head that she wasn't interested? Was the way she politely, but quickly dismissed him each time not obvious enough?

A check stuffed in a sloppily signed card was awkwardly accepted as a birthday present.

Tony could finally breath again once they were back in the car, pulling out of the parking lot. Even then, he was not fully relaxed until he and Ziva curled up into to bed later that night. It shocked Tony how easy it was for them, yet at the same time he knew it was something he should have expected. They just fit together in a way that he never would have known two people ever could, so perfectly and effortlessly.

The rest of the vacation was wonderful and easy. They spent the next two days out on in the city, the last day they soaked up some more sun before they packed up and headed home. On the ride back Tony could not escape the thought that it would be hard to sleep without Ziva in his arms anymore.


	15. Chapter 15

Ziva was now very comfortable in her new home and her new family. She had friends that she would never give up, parents who loved her, a sister who she could go to with anything, and Tony. They were not quite dating, but she was not really sure what they were. More than friends, but she did not know what to call them and was not at all ready to approach him with the subject. Talking about feelings was not exactly either of their fortes. For now, she was still happy to have him in her life, no matter what role he played in it.

She was now familiar with the community, between being involved with her temple and her religious community, volunteering with Kate at the library, going along with Abby to her bowling practice and competitions, and joining in on the pickup basketball games that Tony went to most Saturdays.

Gibbs even asked her if she was up to babysitting for his friend Mike Franks, who she had met at the Fourth of July party. Ziva was nervous, she had never babysat a child other than Tali, so Tony said he would go with her since Abby had bowling practice that night.

This is what had them hopping in Tony's car, leaving for Franks' house now.

Out of the car fifteen minutes later, Ziva stepped forward and knocked on the door. Confusion laced hers and Tony's expressions when a young middle eastern woman answered the door instead of Franks.

"You must be Ziva." The woman greeted, opening the door the rest of the way.

"Yes, that is me. I am here to sit on the baby." She nodded, entering with Tony following close behind.

Tony had to smile at the woman's confusion laced with amused understanding.

"Babysit." Tony corrected as Ziva glanced around the room. Years of habit had her checking for threats and emergency exits everywhere she went.

"I'm Tony, I'm here to babysit for Mike too." Tony shook the woman's hand.

"Hello, yes. He is just upstairs with Amira. That is my daughter, who you will be watching for the night. I am his daughter in law. My name is Leighlah." She explained, receiving nods from both of the teens. "I will go get him, just a moment." Leighlah smiled, retreating up the stairs. Moments later, she returned with Franks, a little girl- who seemed to be an exact image from her mother's past- came skipping up ahead of them.

"Thanks guys. We don't know when we'll be back. My son's in the hospital. I might not be back all night, but if I'm not, Leighlah will come back." Franks nodded a goodbye and rushed out to the car, clearly worried about the state in which he would find his son.

"My number is written down on a pad in the kitchen. Amira's bedtime is eight thirty. She needs a bath before bed. Her dinner is already set up on a plate in the fridge. If you want anything, help yourself." Leighlah instructed, looking to each of them to assure that they had no questions before leaning down to kiss her daughter goodbye.

"Bye mommy." She waved between Tony and Ziva in the doorway as the car pulled away.

Tony shut the door once the car disappeared around the corner. Ziva knelt down beside the girl, glancing at the clock to see that it was now four thirty.

"Hi Amira, I am Ziva. This is Tony." She smiled.

"Hi Ziva. Hi Tony. Want to see my toys?" Amira asked, not waiting for an answer as she dashed up the stairs, not bothering to see who was following, although they both did.

They both sat on the floor in her room while she dug through the toy bin, pulling out some toys.

"This is Maura. She's a doctor. And this is Jane. She's a police lady. This is her police car. She drives it so that she can chase the bad guys. Police protect us from bad guys." Amira explained, making certain that they understood before digging some more. "This Charley. He's a bad guy. Jane doesn't like him." She continued, handing the teddy bear to Tony, who set it down in his lap.

Amira went through almost every toy in the bin until they had to be put away when Ziva announced it was time to clean up for dinner at five thirty.

Downstairs and into the kitchen Ziva held Amira up so that she could reach the sink to wash her hands while Tony grabbed the plate from the refrigerator and slid it into the microwave to warm up.

Tony and Ziva talked to Amira while she ate until she declared that she was done and her plate was cleared. Ziva helped Amira into her bath while Tony cleaned up her plate and wandered about.

Out of the bath, Tony suggested a movie before bed as he had spotted a shelf of dvds in the lounge while he was walking around waiting for them to finish her bath. Amira perked up at the idea, running to pick out a movie. She came back with Jungle Book.

"My favorite." She cheered, holding it up. Tony took the movie from her and set it up, letting her press the buttons on the remote.

Amira sat in Tony's lap and Ziva sat next to them, curled up at Tony's side with her feet tucked beneath her. Amira sang along to every song and Tony quoted a few of the lines he knew in the character's voice, which had her laughing every time. By the end of the movie, Amira was fast asleep on Tony, so he lifted her up and carried her into her room, having Ziva pull down her blankets for him to lay her down and covering her.

They left the door open so that they could listen in on her from the lounge downstairs.

They spoke quietly about whatever came to mind. Through the whole conversation Ziva seemed distant while Tony did most of the talking, Ziva commenting after long intervals of silence.

"Ziva." Tony said, grabbing for her attention when he saw her staring off and not even noticing that he had stopped talking.

"Yes?" She answered, noticing a change in his tone as she was brought back to the present.

"Something's wrong. What is it?" He asked, straight to the point. He was worried about her and needed to know what was going on so that he could fix whatever it was.

Ziva's face hardened to stone, building a wall and pushing the door shut to keep him out. The door was heavy though, she couldn't quite get it locked in time before he stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder to keep a little piece of her heart and mind open to him.

His thumb ran comforting circles over her collar bone, trying to reopen that door once again.

"It's okay, Zi. Whatever it is, you can tell me." He reassured her again and again as the wall came down, brick by brick, revealing a lonely scared girl with a story not meant to be told by one her age.

"Amira. She looks very much like my sister, Tali, when she was younger."

Tony's mouth formed the shape of an 'O' as he thought he began to understand what this was about.

"My childhood was very complicated. My father was the director of Mossad, an Israeli agency like your CIA. The recruitment age is 16, but my father being as powerful as he was, had me training by age twelve. At fourteen, he sent me on my first mission. The night I was to be sent out, I sat at the end of Tali's bed and read her five stories, one for each night I was planned to miss. I sat and watched her fall asleep, praying that it would not be for the last time. Some things went wrong on that mission and I was away for much longer than planned." Ziva squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block the images that ran through her mind_. That mission. Somalia. The camp. Saleem. The terrorist camp. No. Not again Ziva. You are not there. You are not tied to a hard wooden chair. You are safe, with Tony, on a couch in Virginia where nothing can hurt you anymore._ "Every day, the one thing that kept me going was that I had to get back to Tali to read her another bedtime story."

Tony's hand had stopped rubbing circles and he now had both arms wrapped around Ziva with his chin resting over her head.

"You are a good sister, Ziva. You're a good sister, and I think Tali knew that."

Sitting there, feeling his arms and his warmth and listening to the ending credits of Jungle Book replaying in the background, Ziva's breathing slowed and her shoulders relaxed, leaning into Tony for a moment before sitting up again.

"Thank you, Tony."

"For what?"

"For listening." Ziva smiled and Tony smiled right back, sitting back and taking a moment to recollect after what she had just shared.

"Any time. I don't mind. I like that you trust me and that I can trust you." _I like you_. He did not say that part out loud of course. Scaring her away would just ruin their whole relationship and with their friendship growing strong the last thing he wanted was to scare her away, even though he was pretty sure she felt the same way.

"Another movie?" Ziva suggested, trying to ignore how much she wanted to lean back into him and how much she liked being held by him. Trying to ignore how much she liked him.

Tony grinned and got up to go pick out another movie, putting away Jungle Book, and relaxing back into the couch next to Ziva to watch Get Smart.

By the time Dwayne Johnson's character was revealed to be the bad guy, Ziva was nearly asleep and Leighlah was pulling into the driveway.

Tony and Ziva greeted her at the door, let her know that the night went on without a hitch and that if Amira ever needed babysitting, to let them know. Leighlah thanked them, taking down their phone numbers for future reference and paid them before sending them on their way.

Tony pulled up in his driveway, both of them getting out to walk the short distance to her house, although Ziva certainly did not argue when Tony insisted on walking her home.

"Thanks for going with me Tony, and for driving" Ziva paused, unsure whether she should voice her final thought or not "and for listening. It meant a lot."

"You're welcome. Not a problem, David. And if you need someone to listen some other time, I'm just a few houses away. Or a phone call. Any time." Tony added, feeling a tad awkward at his incessant offering, but he really did want her to feel comfortable coming to him.

Ziva nodded, leaning up, cupping one cheek and kissing the other for just a few precious seconds. The touch of her lips felt like it lasted an eternity and a half, and yet, were gone in a blink, pulling back slowly as she moved to disappear behind her door. Tony, dazed by the shy smile she sent him on her way inside, turned back to his house and drifted off to bed hoping that in a dream, he could feel her lips forever.

She slipped into a world of unconsciousness all her own as well, her dreams less blissful than his.

_Dried sweat stuck her raggedy clothes to her back. Light streamed in from only one small window high on the wall behind her. She sat on the floor, head hanging down, eyes glazed over with an empty acceptance that the world would be better off without her, just as Saleem and his men yelled to her day after day. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, dry and dehydrated. The men had not come yet today with the cup of barely clean enough water and whatever scraps were left of their own meals. But then maybe that was better. _

_Maybe, if she could die of starvation or dehydration before they came back, then she could escape the pain that came along with them. No more beating to be taken while she shrunk further into the wall she was chained up against. _

_Oh no. If there is any mercy left in this wretched place those footsteps from outside would not grow any louder, would not come any closer. _

_No such luck. Heavy boots crunched over dirt and gravel, stopping just long enough for the armed man guarding her to push open the heavy wood door. _

_A tin bowl and a small jug of water were dropped to the ground before her. _

"_Get up." The terrorist commanded. "Up!" He yelled, louder now, punctuated with a swift, heavy kick to the knee, right over a bruise that was nowhere near healed. _

"_Are you ready to speak about your place in Mossad?" He spat into her face, only inches away, leaning into her with both hands on the wall above her. "Speak now, you filthy Jew!" He spewed the words, an open palm swiped across her face, a ring cutting into her cheek, now red and raw. _

_Face blank, staring straight ahead past him, Ziva focused her mind away from the room, the man, the putrid smell of urine from being forced to stay in this one room for almost two months now, the blisters on her wrists from being tied up, along with the blisters on her feet from the hot sand that covered the floor. No, none of that was there anymore as Ziva pushed her mind away, escaping to her bedroom, the one she shared with her sister. Ziva watched her face, so pure and innocent with her lip pouting out. Tali's chest rose and fell slowly in a steady pattern. Her hair, wild and curly like her Ziva's, spread across the pillow with a few loose strands falling over her peaceful face. _

_Ziva could not give up, could not give in, to this terrorist. She had to get back home. She had to live. Not for herself, but for her sister. _

_Mustering up whatever strength she had, Ziva jerked forward and kneed him where it hurt, followed by head-butting him as hard as she could. _

_He stumbled back, away from her, taking a moment to recover from the blows before returning to her. He punched her hard in the chest over and over, not as hard as he could, but enough to do some damage, before storming out. _

_Moments later, the crunching of boots was back. The door groaned open. Ziva's eyes grew in fear, but she quickly hid that. Not the same man as before, no, this was much worse. Saleem Ulman, the leader. The one man that Ziva could never fight off. The man that Ziva had been assigned by her father to kill. The man who held her life in his hands. _

_The door slammed shut behind him. _

"Ziva! Ziva, honey, wake up." Jenny begged. The door swung open and shut again as Jethro rushed in.

"Come on Ziver. You're safe here." He reached out to touch her shoulder and she woke immediately, swinging to hit her attacker, eyes wild and fearful.

Gibbs caught her hand before she could hit him and she quickly processed that she was back with Gibbs and Jenny, not Saleem and his men.

Ziva collapsed back against the pillows, feeling the sweat that gathered along her hairline and the pounding of her scared heart.

"It's okay Ziva, you're safe." Jenny promised, stroking a hand along Ziva's arm.

Ziva's eyes clenched shut, forcing the images away with little progress.

Eventually her breathing slowed again and she relaxed a bit.

"You should try to go back to sleep Ziva, it's only three o'clock." Jenny informed gently, wishing she knew what was wrong, but knowing that Ziva was not ready to share.

Ziva nodded, apologizing for waking them both up to which they assured was not a problem and no fault of hers.

Now alone in the dark, Ziva sat in fear. She wanted to sleep again, but images of Saleem and the camp were continuously projected onto the inside of her eyelids.

So, after another hour of staring wide-eyed into the dark, Ziva reached to her bedside table for her phone.

One ring. Two rings. It's the middle of the night. Three rings. He is probably sleeping. Four rings. It is not like he was being literal when he said to call any time anyways. Five rings. Six rings.

"Hello?" Tony mumbled and Ziva could practically see him blinking the sleep from his eyes. "Ziva, are you alright?"

"Yes Tony, I am fine." Ziva lied, before thinking it over again. "Well, no actually. I just- um- I woke you. I'm sorry. I should let you go back to sl-"

"No Ziva, it's fine. What's wrong?" Tony pressed, not wanting to leave her hanging if she needed him.

Ziva let out a breath, gladly accepting his offer.

"I just had a bad night and I was hoping we could talk. I do not think that I will be able to sleep anymore."

"Alright." Tony replied, sounding like he was staring to wake up and Ziva could hear the rustle of sheets as he sat up in bed. "What's up?"

"I had a nightmare, about that mission that went wrong, when I had to leave Tali for a while." Ziva admitted.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.

"No, thank you. I think I would rather talk about something else, if that is okay with you?"

"Yeah, that's fine." He paused for a moment, thinking of what to say that would distract her from her nightmare. "So I finished the James Bond book you got me." Tony grinned, although she could not see his face. Over the next couple hours Ziva's heart lightened, the sun began to rise, Jethro and Jenny got ready for work, and now with the simple fact that it was daytime, Tony asked if he could come over, to which Ziva gladly accepted.

Ziva combed through her hair and brushed her teeth just in time to get the door for Tony.

"Morning," Tony greeted.

"Hey," Ziva answered, letting Tony inside. "Would you like something to eat? I kind of owe you anyways for keeping you up all night."

"It was fine, really. And yeah, breakfast would be great."

ZIva cooked up some eggs and toast, refusing to let Tony do anything to help. They took their plates into the lounge to eat on the couch. Watching How I Met Your Mother, Tony and Ziva silently agreed to skip today's run due to lack of sleep and the fact that they were both completely content on resting on the couch for a while longer. Two episodes in, Abby came downstairs to find Ziva was curled up, fast asleep on one end of the couch with Tony mirroring her on the other.

Abby clicked off the TV and gathered their plates to bring into the kitchen. When Jenny said goodbye earlier that morning before work, she told Abby that ZIva had a bad night and Abby figured some sleep would do her good.


	16. Chapter 16

_Limping, Ziva exited the car, thanking the driver that her father had sent to pick her up from the hospital, and trekking up the driveway. Home. It was meant to be a comfort. This place, this place where she lived and grew and learned and loved, this place was meant to be safe. Now, even after these past few treacherous months, Ziva hesitated to enter. A part of her wanted to turn around and walk away. Just walk away and move on. Move on from her father's ways and from Mossad and the loneliness and abandonment and betrayal she felt._

_This mission, Ziva now knew, was a suicide mission. That was obvious and she only wished she could have seen this before, but Ziva had been blind to her father's ways._

_Now Ziva saw everything. She saw that her father sent her on a nearly impossible mission. That her father had taken his own precious time with his efforts to save her. That her father only called when she arrived at the hospital, not to ensure her safety, but to admonish her on failing to complete the mission without being captured._

_This all weighed Ziva down, dragging behind her as she forced herself into her home, her father's home. But Tali's home none the less. Ziva had to be there for Tali. To make sure Tali was safe and that Tali could get away from Mossad before her father forced her into it._

_This was the force that pulled Ziva into the house._

_Her fist, with knuckles scarred and fingers frail, landed in sure, heavy knocks on the wooden door, creating a hollow echo in the dusky evening._

_The door pulled open to reveal Ari with worry on his face but relief in his eyes. He pulled Ziva into his chest, grateful that he could finally do so after he thought he would never be able to again. Ziva sighed into his shoulder, letting herself rest against her brother._

_Ziva pulled back, regaining her composure before she could give herself the chance to lose it in the first place. Ari followed her lead and pulled away._

"_Abba wanted to see you in his study." He informed, voice flowing in the low rhythm that bad news always carries._

_The younger sibling nodded once, giving Ari a blank look but eyes apologetic for not being able to talk for longer, silently promising to speak with him after she had dealt with Eli._

_Her footsteps must have alerted Eli as she walked down the hall because he opened the door to his study just before she could grab the handle._

"_Ziva. Come in." He greeted with his own peculiar version of a warm smile, letting her into the room before stepping in after her._

"_Are you feeling well, motek?" Eli inquired, feigning concern._

"_I am better than I was three days ago, yes." Ziva answered, not giving into his change of heart, seeming more caring than the man who did not call or visit her in the hospital._

"_Good. You will be given some time to heal before going back into training, but not forget. It only hurts if you let it." He reminded, stern yet laced with a forced gentleness at the same time and she tried to ignore the annoyance shooting through her because this was the best that she was going to get. Ziva quickly tried to think of anything else to distract her when she thought of the one person who could calm her._

"_Abba, may I go see Ima? To let her know that I am safe." Ziva asked, eyes turning innocent and hopeful like the young lady she was, still in need of her parents love._

_Eli walked back from the door, around the room to stand behind his desk, nonchalantly sitting down._

"_Your Ima has gone to stay with your Aunt Nettie for a while." He explained, distracting himself by straightening out the papers in between him and his daughter._

_Wheels turning, Ziva's mind went to work trying to process this. Her Ima could not have simply left. Well, then again, her and Eli had been fighting more lately. Oh no, no this cannot possibly be happening. They cannot just do this. How could this have happened? They could not have possibly gotten so much worse while she was gone._

"_Why?" Ziva clipped shortly, not capable of choking out much more than that one simple syllable._

"_She chose to do so. She did not wish to stay here. She may come back when she is ready."_

_The calmness in his voice, on his face, melting in the air, suffocating the room made Ziva's blood boil. He acted as if Ima leaving was nothing, as if they should have expected it and no one should care._

_Ziva could not look at her father, could not breath the same hot, thick air as him. She turned and marched out of the room, ignoring the pain shooting down her leg._

_She did not stop until she was across the house, in the lounge, cradling the phone to her ear. Every beep tugged at Ziva's heart just a little bit more, made her blood pump just a little bit faster. After the fourth ring, Ziva's patience began to wear thin. By the fifth Ziva had to fight the itching in her fingers telling her to hang up, to not be disappointed. Six rings._

"_Shalom?" An all too familiar voice answered, cutting off the sixth ring._

"_Shalom Doda, is Ima there?" Ziva asked, not allowing herself to feel relieved yet._

"_Ken, here you go."_

"_Toda" Ziva thanked before the phone was handed off._

"_Ziva." A breathless voice greeted._

"_Shalom Ima."_

"_Oh dear, thank goodness you are safe. Are you well?" Ima asked nervously, hoping the answer would not be something she was not yet ready to hear._

"_I will be fine, yes. I have injuries of course, but they will not last for long." Ziva assured._

"_I miss you Motek."_

"_I miss you too Ima. Why have you left?" Ziva's false confidence threatened to fail as her chest tightened, not sure what to expect. She heard a heavy sigh come from the other end._

"_You know how it has been with your father and I, we have not been getting along very well lately and I needed to take a break for a little while. I will be back soon, I promise. By the time school starts I will be home."_

_Ziva drooped back into the couch with relief, the phone nearly falling from her hand._

"_Okay." Ziva sighed, before recollecting herself. "I should go. I have not seen Tali yet and I was hoping to say goodnight to her before she goes to sleep."_

"_Alright darling, go ahead. We will speak again soon. I love you."_

"_I love you too."_

_Ziva cut the line and set the phone back down on its cradle. On the way to her sister's room Ziva thought only of her mother and how vulnerable she sounded. As she peered into her sister's room, lit only by a nightlight beside the bed, she saw a whole other form of vulnerability. The beautiful kind of vulnerability you see in a child, a child who is forced to be so strong in the day, but is now curled up under a fluffy blanket, cuddling an old doll, lip tucked out into a pout in her unconsciousness and the rest of her face completely relaxed._

_Being the worried older sister that she is, Ziva slips into the room and came to perch onto the edge of the bed next to her sleeping sibling._

_Her hand reached out and runs a finger over Tali's hair, pushing some loose strands off of her face. Ziva stayed there for a while, just stroking Tali's hair before standing to leave._

"_Goodnight Tali." Ziva whispered to the resting figure and turning around. A lazy hand on Ziva's wrist had her twirling back around in an instant. Tali stared up at her, eyes droopy with sleep and wide with worry._

"_Don't leave me." She begged. Ziva nodded silently, sitting back down on the edge of the bed until Tali moved over, inviting her to lie down._

After they woke up later that morning, the rest of the day went without a hitch. Kate came over and her, Abby, Tony, and Ziva played soccer in the backyard most of the day. Kate invited everyone over to her house for dinner, which Tony and Ziva accepted. Abby and Tim already had plans to go out to dinner.

The whole time Ziva's family clouded her head. She was amazed Tony's willingness to be there for her last night. His place in her heart and how much she thought of him grew more and more every day.

Around eight thirty, Tony and Ziva headed out. Tony offered to walk with Ziva to her house. The walk was just across the street and they both knew that, but Ziva said yes because she really wanted to talk to him. She did not realize this at the time but he wanted to talk to her too.

They waved back at Kate from the end of the porch steps before she disappeared back into her house. Walking down the driveway and across street neither of them spoke. Tony's hands were stuffed deep in his pockets and Ziva was staring straight ahead, somewhere far off in the distance, beyond the row of houses.

At the end of her driveway, without a word between them, they stopped at the front porch and turned to finally look at each other.

Their names slipped from the other's mouth at the same instant and both smirk and the lightened atmosphere that the awkwardness of it produced. Tony nodded to her, leaning back, his body telling her to go first.

"Thank you Tony for everything. Especially with everything that happened last night and this morning. It, it meant a lot to me." She looked down, not wanting to look at him and let him see the vulnerability in her eyes.

"You're welcome Ziva. I would do it again if I had the chance." Tony cleared his throat, staring straight at her but clearing his face blank of expression, afraid of her reaction and bracing himself just in case. "You're important to me."

Ziva's eyes snapped up to his.

"Tony," Ziva paused, trying to put her thoughts into words. "You have always had my back." And even though they had not known each other for long, if was so true.

Silence enveloped them once again.

"I am sorry. This is awkward, I should just go." Ziva said, turning to open the door, but Tony grabbed her arm stopping her and she turned back around.

"Nothing's awkward between friends." He smiled to her, trying to comfort her.

"That is the problem." She explained, much to Tony's confusion. "Is 'friends' really all we are? Is that all you want us to be?"

Tony paused. He froze. Ziva was asking him this. He was supposed to be asking her.

"Whatever you are ready for Ziva, that is what I want us to be."

"I think I am ready for more than friends." The smiled they shared could light a room, blind an onlookers eyes, and draw a crowd, because anyone around would want to stop and stare at the beauty of the pure joy on both of their faces.

They both wanted this and they knew that the other did too.

"Well then Ziva," Tony started, overdramatically dropping onto one knee and grabbing her hand "would you be my girlfriend?"

Ziva laughed and curtsied.

"It would be my honor." Tony pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles, leading to ZIva pulling him up, chuckling at his antics.

The next passing moments, they stood there on the porch, just staring at each other and smiling.

Car lights lit up, rounding the corner. It was Abby and Tim.

"We should go, you know, before Abby starts squealing." Ziva suggested, to Tony's agreement.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Tony asked, followed by a nod from Ziva.

"Goodnight Tony." Ziva said, leaning up and kissing his cheek like she had done many times before, the only difference was that this time, as she pulled away Tony rested his hands on her hips and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Night Ziva." He smiled.

He dropped his hands back to his sides just before Abby and Tim reached the driveway and Ziva turned to go inside, leaving him alone on the porch.

Tony smiled to himself as he walked away from the house, saying hi to his friends on the way back to his house.

It was obvious to both of them that he was in a good mood, but neither of them had a guess as to why.


	17. Chapter 17

School was fast approaching. Ads for notebooks and backpacks and back to school clothes were everywhere. Another year. Their last year. Senior year was going to begin in just a week and Abigail Gibbs could not have been more thrilled. She had a countdown going for the past week, starting from fifteen days left until school, marked with the day when they were all supposed to go and register at school and when they needed to get school supplies.

"This is always the best part of the year because you get a fresh new setup. Your backpack's clean and your stuff isn't all cluttered and messy. You get to meet your new teachers and make new friends. You get to see all of the people you didn't get to see over the summer. It's great! Plus, this year is going to start better than any other year. This is the first year I'm starting school while dating Tim and now I have a sister too, who I just _know _will help me make sure I get an A in French this year." Abby babbled as she sat with Ziva and Kate.

Kate had slept over the night before and now they were just having breakfast after already having gotten dressed. Kate's dad was off of work for the day and Kate snatched up the opportunity to use his car and drive the three of them, plus Tim and Tony over to their school to register and show Ziva around the campus.

Ziva was just glad that the school had a day like this for students that would be new to the school where they were free to walk around campus and figure out where everything is before it get filled to the brim with bustling crowds of chatty, rushing teenagers.

Tim showed up soon after the girls had put away their cereal bowls. Abby, still bubbling with enthusiasm over the start of the school year, rushed to greet him at the backdoor, her bone crushing hug nearly making them doth topple over.

"Hey Abs." Tim grinned, giving her a simple, but sweet kiss. Most people found Abby a bit overwhelming when she got like this, but the way small things made her the happiest and how excited she got over anything important to her was one of his favorite things about her and he loved seeing her like this.

"This year is going to be absolutely spectacular Timmy!" Abby substituted as a greeting, gaining a wide smile from Tim in return.

Tony appeared not long after him and was welcomed by Ziva at the door.

"Hi Tony." Ziva smiled up, they had not been together for long, but they were still both in a state of bliss at the idea of their relationship.

"Hey Ziva." Tony smiled charmingly, leaning forward to kiss her cheek.

After Tony left the night he asked her out, Abby found out within just a few hours and quite a bit of prying. By the next day Tim and Kate knew as well, but Ziva and Tony made sure everyone knew not to let Gibbs know about them yet, that they would talk to him about it soon, in private, when they were ready.

Kate popped up in the doorway behind Ziva, resting her chin up on Ziva's shoulder, drawing a chuckle from the tanner girl.

"Everybody ready to go?" She asked. Tony and Ziva both nodded and Kate turned around to see Tim nodding as well and Abby with a grin from ear to ear on her face.

"Let's go!" Abby declared, sending everyone into motion and out into the car in the driveway.

Kate took the wheel, with Abby calling shotgun and the other three piling into the back seat with Tony squished in the middle.

"We could have just taken my car you know." Tony pointed out, thinking of how much more room his car had.

"Yes, we could have, but I want to get used to driving this car. My dad's been looking at new cars and when he gets one, I get this." Kate explained simply. Tony nodded in response, giving into her logic for once.

Five minutes later Kate was pulling into a spot in the parking lot and the five of them were getting out, Abby gladly leading the way to the office.

"Hi Ms. Mann." Abby greeted the administrator as the crew entered the office.

"Hi there Abigail, you kids all here to register for the year?" She smiled back.

"Yup." Abby nodded excitedly. Abby and Kate, both being in the student council, knew most of the administration very well. Tony was known by most of them because of his athletic reputation, but he did not talk to that many of them. Even Tim had through the years gotten to know some of them, having helped the media specialists fix some of the computers and setting up a few presentations. "We all just need to update our papers. But this is my sister Ziva," Abby gestured. "She's new here so she has to get registered. She wasn't in this school district before."

Ms. Mann nodded, walking over to one of the filing cabinets behind her and running her fingers over the names on the folders, pulling out the ones she needed as she went.

"Alright, here is DiNozzo, Gibbs, McGee, and Todd." She handed them out as she went, turning to Ziva. "Just give me a moment and I'll print you up a fresh packet." Mann smiled. Less than a minute later some papers were rolling off of the printer next to Mann's computer.

"Thank you." Ziva nodded, taking the packet and going with the others to the part of the office that had chairs. They all sat down and filled out what they needed to.

For the first time since Ziva had arrived in the states, she acknowledged the fact that her name was still Ziva David, not Gibbs. The thought made her pause her writing for a moment, pen stuck in the air just above the paper.

The rest of the packet was simple basic information that she finished quickly, handing her papers back with the others.

"Ziva, I'm going to need to you to pick your courses real quick so that I can run you through the system and give you your schedule, okay?"

"Sure." Ziva complied. Ms. Mann turned her monitor around so that Ziva could click the classes she wanted.

"You have to pick a math, science, language arts, and history class. Then you can pick two other classes." She explained.

Ziva selected the English 4, seeing that that was the language arts class for seniors, Physics honors, Calculus 1, and US Government honors as her core classes. Her first elective choice was dance, but she could not seem to decide on a second elective.

"Why don't you pick a language? You're good with those." Tim suggested.

"I would love to take a language, but I am already fluent in all of the languages this school offers." Ziva sighed.

"You can take art, I'm taking that one." Kate added.

"I don't think so." Ziva said, knowing her skills in that area were mediocre at best and were unlikely to improve.

"How about photography?" Abby thought, knowing that that was a fun class. Besides, the photography class put together the yearbook and that would help Ziva get more involved with her new school.

"Oh! I like that one." ZIva grinned, clicking that one and pressing submit, turning the computer back to the administrator.

She tapped away on the computer.

"I'm just plugging your choices into the system to make sure there is a spot available for you in all of these classes, which shouldn't be a problem." Ms. Mann explained. The computer beeped affirmatively and Ms. Mann printed up Ziva's schedule, handing it to her before going back to the other students' files to retrieve their schedules.

"Thanks Ms. Mann!" Abby waved as they turned to leave.

"No problem Abby, I'll see you next week."

Back in the courtyard of the school they all say on a long bench, comparing their schedules.

Ziva had English first period with Kate and Tim, then US government with all four of them. Third period she had dance, but none of her friends were in that class. Fourth was Physics with Tony and Kate. Tim and Abby were both in Physics honors. Then she had lunch, which they were all in together. After lunch was Calculus with Tim. Photography was her last class, which Abby had as well.

Ziva had to admit, she was disappointed not to be in the same dance class as Kate, who took it to help her with cheerleading, but she would have to manage.

Once they had all of their schedules sorted out they all stood and began their tour of the campus. They showed Ziva the cafeteria, the library, the gym, the track and field, the senior courtyard, where most of their classes were, and the elective hall where photography would be.

"Dancers use the locker room in the gym and the dance room in above the locker rooms, but the building is locked so we can't go up there." Kate explained.

For most classes they would only need a notebook, folder and something to write with, but some teachers that wanted other specific supplies had a note added to the bottom of their students' schedules.

"Let's go down the street to that smoothie place, then we can go get our school supplies and everything." Tony suggested which was met with general agreement.

Nearly an hour later everyone was at Tony's house, looking over their supplies and making sure they had everything they would need.

Ziva sipped the last of her Berry-Mango Madness, flipping through everything in the shopping bag.

"So for dance I can just bring shorts and a tank top right?" Ziva checked with Kate.

"Yeah, and spandex." Kate added.

"Can't forget the spandex." Tony smirked, earning himself a well-deserved slap in both arms from Abby and Ziva. He just grinned back at them in reply. Ziva just shook her head at him, eyes glimmering in barely hidden amusement. The group faded into conversation after that.

"We should do something tomorrow. You know, invite some friends, make it an end of summer-beginning of the school year type thing." Kate said.

"We could go bowling." Abby pitched, knowing she could beat any of her friends.

They others murmured in agreement, looking around at each other for approval.

"I can't. Tomorrow is the first round of football tryouts" Tony pointed out.

"Oh, I totally forgot." Kate groaned. "That means I have cheer tryouts too. They're always on the same days."

"That's fine," Ziva said. "We can do it sometime over the next week then, just not tomorrow."

"Tryouts go on for three days. The coaches narrow it down every day. So if you make it the first day, you go the second day too. If you make it the second day, you have to go the third day. The coach makes the final decision on the third day." Kate filled everyone in.

Tim knew that they would both make it through all three days, just like they did for the past three years of high school.

"Okay, so let's do it Friday. Then all the tryouts will be over and we can celebrate you guys making the cut again this year too." He smiled. Everyone seemed to agree with the newly improved plan.

"Sounds good." Abby said, speaking for everyone.

That night, Tony and Ziva were talking in her bedroom. They sat at the head of the bed with Ziva's head on his shoulder and Tony's arm around her waist.

"So I was thinking, tomorrow I have tryouts most of the day, but maybe we could go out after? Do something fun?" Tony played with the ends of her hair, curling it around his fingertips. Ziva loved the feeling, her eyes closing in relaxation. She hummed contently before realizing what he said.

"Like a date?" Ziva smirked at how childish that sounded as soon as it slipped from her lips.

"A date." Tony confirmed, grinning as he felt her smirk against him.

"I would really like that," The way Ziva paused, Tony knew that there was something else on her mind. "but I think before we do that we should tell my parents about us." Ziva bit her lip while she waited for his answer, knowing that getting past the ferocious Gibbs could be a daunting task.

"Okay, I just hope he doesn't bite my head off or anything. As long as he doesn't go all Steve Martin _Father of the Bride_ on us, we'll be fine." Tony joked, sensing that Ziva was nervous about telling them. He was a little nervous too, but he did not want to make Ziva worry any more than she already was. "Do you want to talk to them tonight? That way we can still go out tomorrow."

"That works, yes." Ziva still sounded unsure, and Tony could see it in her eyes when she looked up at him.

"Hey," Tony soothed, kissing her forehead, then her nose, then her lips. "we'll be fine."

"When we met I never expected you to be so sweet." Ziva laughed, her smile reappearing.

"Well that's the thing about life, is the surprises, the little things that sneak up on you and grab hold of you." Tony quoted, grabbing her hand as he spoke.

Ziva looked up at him, confused as to where that came from.

"And once again I bring up Father of the Bride." Tony grinned, Ziva rolling her eyes in return.

They sat there for a moment in a comfortable silence. Tony took a breath.

"Do you want to go talk to them now?" Tony asked. Ziva sighed, nodding in return. She got up from her side of the bed and Tony got up from the left, rejoining hands at the door before going downstairs, through the kitchen and, by unspoken instinct to speak to Gibbs before Jenny to get the hardest part out of the way, the final steps down into the basement.

From the top of the steps Tony and Ziva could see Gibbs in the dimly lit room, measuring a piece of wood to be added the bare outline of a boat.

Gibbs barely glanced up at them, just continued what he was doing as he marked off the board with a pencil, pulling a hand saw off of the workbench.

Not a word was said until Tony and Ziva were both standing before his at the bottom of the steps, firm on their feet and hearts pounding heavily.

"Dad" Ziva said, making sure that they had his attention, even though she already knew they did.

The older man looked up at them, seeing that they had something important to say and biting back a smirk, put the saw back down and walked around the bench he had set up to stand right in front of them, giving them his full attention. Tony cleared his throat, preparing himself.

"Ziva and I are dating, Gibbs." Tony announced, getting right to the point and bracing himself for a classic headslap. Eyes shut tight, he waited, but nothing came. Cautiously, Tony peeked one eye open to see Gibbs staring at him, humour glinting in his eyes and the edge of his lips quirking up. Tony relaxed, opening both eyes.

"Yeah, and?" Gibbs replied. There was a silence creeping over them as Tony and Ziva realized that Gibbs had already figured out that they were in a relationship.

"I wanted your permission to take Ziva out on a date tomorrow." Tony continued warily.

Gibbs eyed the two of them, just trying to make them squirm. It worked. Ziva shifted her weight onto her right foot, toward Tony and Tony's fingers clenched, scratching nervously at his palm.

"Sure." Gibbs nodded casually, leaning back against the bench.

"Great." Tony smiled, glad it went so much easier than either of them expected.

"Thank you." Ziva said.

Gibbs nodded to her in reply; both of them shifted to leave and as they did Gibbs reached forward giving a tap to both of their heads, causing them to swiftly turn around.

"That's for trying to keep a secret from me." He chided, turning and moving back behind the bench to continue his project.

Tony and Ziva headed up the stairs. As they reached the top Gibbs could hear Tony complain.

"How come you got the softer slap?"

Back upstairs, Tony stood behind Ziva as she knocked on the door to her parents' bedroom, knowing that is where Jenny would be.

"Come on in." Jenny called. She smiled at both of them as they walked in. Gibbs and she had already talked about the two of them dating, so she was expecting this sooner or later.

"Hi Mom." Ziva smiled, coming to lean against the side of the bed by Jenny's legs, Tony standing next to her, their fingers still laced together, now much more casually than before when they had death grips on each other.

"Hey Ziva, hi Tony."

"I'm guessing since Gibbs knew, you already knew that we are dating, too huh?" Tony figured.

"Yeah, we kind of figured that one out by now." Jenny joked.

"Well, we wanted to make sure it was okay with you two if we go out tomorrow night." Tony asked.

"Depends," Jenny said. "Where are you going?" Both teens knew that she was only kidding and that she was just curious.

Ziva, not knowing the answer and still not entirely familiar with a lot of places to go in the area, looked at Tony to wait with Jenny for the answer.

"I was thinking Monster Minigolf and dinner, but we haven't really decided yet." Tony informed, although part of him had been hoping to surprise Ziva. Well at least she still did not know his whole plan and she did not even know what Monster Minigofl was anyways.

"Well I'm fine with that. It sounds like you guys will have a good time."

"I'm sure we will." Ziva put in, knowing anywhere she went with Tony would be wonderful.

"So that's a yes?" Tony checked.

"Mhmm." Jenny grinned.

"Thanks." Ziva said.

"Of course, now you guys get out of here." Jenny ordered, laughing and motioning to the report folders on her bedside table. "I've got to finish this paperwork."

"Okay, goodnight." Ziva leaned up and gave Jenny a hug before leaving, Tony close behind. They both returned to her room, collapsing onto the same sides of the bed that they were on before, simultaneously rolling to face one another in the middle.

Tony draped his arm over Ziva's waist and Ziva put her hand on his chest, where she could feel his heart beating.

"That was easy." Ziva sighed.

"Well yeah, I did all the talking!"

"Of course. _You_ asked _me_ out." Ziva reminded. Tony rolled his eyes in a 'whatever' kind of way; Ziva retaliated by hitting his shoulder, earning a dramatized whine from her boyfriend. _I really like calling him my boyfriend._

Ziva tilted her chin up just barely and kissed his shoulder.

"Better?" She laughed.

"Much." He grinned, incredibly pleased with himself.

They stayed in Ziva's room for a while longer until around nine when they both decided that it was time Tony head out.

Ziva walked him to the door and when she returned to her room the fluttering in her stomach from their simple goodbye kiss was still there.


	18. Chapter 18

Abby, Ziva, Tim, and Sarah spent the next day casually drifting around the pool, tossing a ball back and forth.

"So Ziva, are you excited?" Abby giggled, pushing for information. Ziva of course automatically knew what she was talking about.

"I am glad Gibbs and Jenny are okay with it." She often found herself switching between calling them by their names and calling them Mom and Dad. Especially with Jenny, who she had already known for a long time, it was difficult to break the habit of calling her by her first name. Other times, Jenny, always being supportive and empathetic, made Mom seem like the only name that would fit. Jethro was much the same with how protective he could be.

"Stop evading the question." Abby dug, slashing some water at Ziva in punishment. Before the conversation could move any further Sarah had to get caught up.

"What is Ziva excited about exactly?" She questioned, being left completely out of the loop on this.

"Her first date with Tony." Abby grinned widely as surprise and then recognition crossed over Sarah's face.

"Figures. You guys flirt a lot." Sarah pointed out.

"We do not." Ziva bit back defensively.

"Hey, it's not a bad thing." The younger girl put her hands up in defense.

"You still haven't answered the question." Tim so helpfully butted in.

"Thank you for the reminder Tim." Ziva said sarcastically.

"Yes, I am excited for our date." She resigned finally, in a soft voice.

Abby's face split into the biggest grin Ziva had ever seen on the girl's face. The paler girl quickly jumped off of where she was sitting on the edge of the pool, making a huge splash as she sped over to hug Ziva, lifting her off her feet since she was lighter in the water.

Ziva rolled her eyes, hugging her back and letting herself be lifted.

"Are you two doing anything tonight?" She, not so tactfully, tried to change the subject.

"I'm probably just going to stay home with Mom and Dad." Abby answered.

"The Admiral is coming back from his tour. He's been gone for six months and my Mom's going to do a big family dinner like she always does when he gets back." Tim added.

"Not that he stays home for long." Sarah continued. Tim shrugged in agreement.

Ziva could easily relate to that. When she was much younger and her father had still been out in the field, his missions would often take him away for months at a time. It was difficult on everyone in the family. Ima had to care for the kids by herself; Ari was always trying to be the man of the house. With Ima so flustered, Ziva was left to comfort Tali when things got hectic. A missing piece to the puzzle would be hard for any family.

"How long do you think he will be here before he deploys again?" Ziva inquired.

"Couple weeks, maybe a month. Long enough to make an appearance, have a few meeting with his superiors, check up on Tim and I, make sure the house is in one piece and that Mom hasn't given up on their relationship yet. Then it's back on some big ship to God knows where for the better part of a year."

Tim sighed, putting a comforting hand on his sister's shoulder, knowing that if things continued like this that their family would not stay stable for long.

The conversation slowly drifted away, staying well clear of the uncomfortable and dreary topic of the McGee family's troubles. Eventually Ziva realized that she should go home to shower and change clothes before Tony showed up to find her in a bikini, which given, he probably would not mind, but would undoubtedly be inappropriate for their date.

Confusion crossed her tanned features as Abby got out of the pool with her. Abby clearly saw this right away.

"I'm doing your makeup." She stated simply, as if Ziva should have been expecting this, which she absolutely was not. With a sigh of resignation, Ziva slipped on her sandals and motioned for Abby to follow her before leading the way home.

"Goodbye Tim, goodbye Sarah." Ziva called back as she passed through the yard, hearing their answers stumble over each other as they spoke at the same time.

"Whatcha gonna wear?" Abby inquired.

"I do not know. Tony said that I should just dress casually so probably nothing special." Ziva divulged, although she already had her outfit planned out in her head; a pair of black and gold sandals, white shorts and a black, slightly off the shoulder shirt with a gold and white design on the bottom.

Ziva quickly showered, dressing swiftly and wrapping her hair in a towel to dry while Abby went to work with some foundation and eyeliner, which Ziva did not feel she needed, but accepted none the less.

Abby, at last, handed Ziva a tube of lip gloss to put on herself, which Ziva obliged, leaning closer toward the mirror to examine her final look.

Ziva untucked the towel from itself, pulling it off to hang over the back of the chair and letting her partially dry hair fall in tendrils over her shoulders, accenting her beauty.

Her sister squealed with excitement, clapping before giving her a hug, careful not to ruffle her outfit or her hair.

Ziva and Abby went downstairs together to wait in the living room. Jenny and Gibbs came home not long after.

"Plans tonight Ziver?" Gibbs deadpanned.

"Yes, I am going at someone tonight." Ziva tried to play along.

"Going out with someone." Abby corrected.

"Yes, that. Thank you." She was constantly trying to store these little bits of information that you only pick up around native speakers.

"Someone we know?" Jenny pried, holding back a smile.

"Hmm, perhaps. It is just some guy that lives around here. He comes over most days."

"Doesn't ring a bell." Jenny continued. Ziva could only stare in confusion, trying to understand the expression.

"Means it doesn't remind her of anything." Gibbs finally explained, curing Ziva's disarray.

"You have fun tonight Ziva." Jenny said, breaking their little improvisation they had going on.

"I think I will." Ziva smiled, wondering what the night would bring.

"Do you need money?"

"No, that is alright. I have some from babysitting Amira. I told you that Leighlah called to ask if I could watch Amira on Sunday, yes?"

"I think you mentioned that, yeah." Jenny confirmed.

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door. Abby and Jenny looked at each other with indulgent smiles at Ziva left to go answer the door, knowing who it would be.

"Hi Tony." Ziva greeted, letting him inside. "I'm just going to say goodbye to everyone and then we can head out, okay?"

"That's fine." Tony agreed, following her back into the house with a goofy grin on his face at the sight of her with makeup on.

"Bye guys." Ziva stated simply, giving Jenny and Abby a hug goodbye and Gibbs give her a kiss on the forehead.

"When do you think you'll be home?" Gibbs asked. Ziva looked to Tony, still not sure exactly what their plans were.

"What time do you want her home?" Tony questioned back, dodging the question.

"Any time, you don't have anything you need to do tomorrow. Just be quiet when you come in, alright?" Jenny interjected.

Tony smiled back.

"She won't be home too late Jenny." He received a nod from her in response.

Back out in the driveway, Tony, being ever the gentleman, opened the car door for her.

"So where are we going?" Ziva inquired as they pulled out onto the road.

"Monster Minigolf."

"What might that be, exactly?"

"It's just like minigolf, but there's a bit of a twist."

"You do not want to tell me the twist, correct?"

"You'll find out soon." Tony grinned.

They pulled up to a building and Ziva was vaguely surprised that the whole course appeared to be indoors as opposed to most minigolf courses that she had seen, which were all outside.

Tony opened the door for her as they walked in and Ziva was caught in awe of what she found.

It looked like the kind of place where you would play laser tag. The whole place was dark, the walls painted black and the carpet was black with a neon splatter paint pattern. There was buzzing and clinging and dinging all around, where there were arcade games set up along the entrance. The lights were colored, either black, neon green, purple, or orange. The white print on Tony's shirt and Ziva's white shorts glowed in the dark.

Ziva's eyes were wide, taking in everything that she could. This was their first real date and she wanted to remember every little detail. Tony took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers and walking them over to the register.

"One round for each of us, please." Tony smiled at the kid behind the counter. He went to their school and Tony was almost positive he was friends with Tim.

"Sure thing." The boy handed Tony two score sheets and pointed over to the clubs and golf balls. "You can pick which ones you want over there. That'll be $17.45."

Tony and Ziva both fished into their pockets for money, but when Ziva got hers out Tony took it off the counter, handing it back to her.

"Tony. I'm paying."

"I'm not letting you pay Ziva. There is no way you are paying for us."

"Maybe not for you, but at least for me."

"Come on; just let me pay for you. It's really no big deal."

"I know, that's why I should be able to pay for myself, no?" They stared at each other for long enough to make the cashier awkwardly look away, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

Tony resigned, laying her money and his part back down on the counter. Each of them picked the right sized club and a ball. They were all light colors, so they glowed in the dark too. Ziva grabbed a green one and Tony got orange.

Past the stand of clubs, they found the first hole and Ziva, without hesitation, moved to go first.

Being the first hole, it was also the easiest and she made it in one shot.

"Your turn." Ziva smirked, getting her ball back from the hole and moving out of the way for Tony to go, marking her card.

"Don't get too cocky yet." Tony warned, also getting a whole in one.

Ziva nodded to him in acknowledgement and congratulations on getting a whole in one, although it would have been incredibly, limitlessly entertaining for her if after how confident he was, he did not get it.

"It's good to know you're not one of those girls who plays that whole 'I'm bad at this, can you help me?' charade to get me to come up behind you and guide your hands." Tony shook his head, knowing full and well beforehand that Ziva was absolutely not that kind of girl and that he could only like her more because of it.

"Well you can help if you would like, but there is a good chance that I will purposefully elbow you in the side." Ziva shared wisely.

"Also very good to know."

Going through every hole Tony and Ziva kept up with each other, nearly hole for hole with their scores never more than a few points apart. Ziva watched as the green goblin in the corner came to life, moaning robotically and the gears pushed behind him, making him lift his arms up, reaching out towards them.

"He's alive! He's alive!" Tony cheered in a deep voice, holding his arms out in front of him like the green monster in the corner was doing. Ziva bit back and laugh, only allowing herself to chuckle quietly as she pulled Tony's arms back down to his sides.

"What? Everyone can use a little bit of Frankenstein in their day." Tony grinned, eyes glinting with humor.

Ziva's eyes lit up in amusement at his antics. The more time she spent with him, the happier she was, she let loose more often, laughed louder, smiled wider, and it was little things like this that caused it.

The Israeli leaned up and kissed him fully and quickly, before doing a complete one-eighty away from him, with a huge grin on her face, toward their next hole.

"Hey, wait!" Tony called, jogging slightly to catch up. He was right behind her once again and easier stepped around her, to stand face to face.

With that, they were kissing again. Lips on lips. Holding each other close. One of his hands resting on her waist. Eyes closed, shutting out the rest of the room, the rest of the world. It went no further than that before they pulled apart. No wandering hands, no more than a simple kiss of lips on delicate lips.

"One more hole." Tony pointed out, their foreheads against each other. He grinned widely, knowing that their current scores and that this would be the tie breaker.

"I see." Ziva stepped away, setting up her ball. The ball had to go through one of three holes which all had small plastic ghosts flying past them, out on of the other three holes where it would either be right behind the hole, across a small open space from it, or at the top of a slope leading in the general direction of the balls' final destination.

Ziva picked quickly, seeing that it was random and going with the hole all the way to the left. This one came out across from the open area. She went to go stand next to it while Tony started his turn. His ball came out right behind the hole, stopping only an inch or two short of glory.

Tony groaned as it slowed almost immediately after coming out of the first hole.

Ziva's eyes squinted in focus, seeing what she could do. One side on her lips turned upward mischievously.

She took her stance, hit the ball much harder than she would have had to in order to get the ball in the hole, hitting Tony's out of the way before bouncing off the wall and into the final hole.

"Are you kidding me?" Tony cried. "How did you? But your ball was? Are you kidding me?"

Ziva laughed deeply in response, grabbing her little green side kick and standing beside Tony to wait for his final shot. This would decide if they either tied, or if Ziva won.

"Can you handle this Tony?" Ziva teased, her accent peaking on his name.

"Of course I can, Zee-vah." Tony pushed right back at her.

"You do not need help?" She grinned back at his confusion. Ziva came up behind him, her chest to his back, her hands over his, holding the club together. Tony could feel the vibrations of her laughter against him as they swung, landing with a simple thud, into the whole, effectively tying the game.

A worker approached them as they walked away from the final hole to return their clubs.

"May I see your scorecards?" The short, middle aged woman asked.

"Sure." "Here you move."

"It's here you go." Tony mumbled.

"You tied! I guess that means that you two can share the prize." She smiled warmly, pulling from her pocket a handful of coins and handing them each half. "The winner is supposed to get ten free arcade tokens, but both of you won and neither of you won. Have fun." She backtracked to talk to a group of younger kids who were finishing their round behind them.

"Follow me, or perish, sweater monkey." Tony declared, holding out his hand to her. Ziva took it tentatively, trying to comprehend what he just said.

"Come on. Don't tell me you haven't seen Bring It On." Tony accused. "Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised you haven't seen it. Total chick flick, not really your style. Kate loves them though."

Ziva shook her head, unable to believe the amount of movie knowledge he managed to maintain, but walking with him to the arcade area nonetheless.

They found a shooting game for two players which Ziva annihilated Tony by an embarrassing amount. He quickly dodged out of a second round. Ziva watched as Tony played a snowboarding game, followed by him watched her play a racing game. Her name blinked on the high scores chart as number eight.

"Wouldn't want to see you behind the wheel." Tony jested lightly.

"Probably not." Ziva responded simply. By the hint of a smile gracing her face Tony could see that, while she did find it funny, she was telling the truth.

Ziva and Tony drifted around the arcade, playing a few games. Just as they each found themselves with only one token left, Ziva found the claw machine.

She was careful to place the claw directly over the head of the toy she wanted, tweaking it gently a few times before pressing the drop button and clasping her hands together in anticipation. The claw moved down far too slowly for her liking, landing right over her choice. It lifted; closing around the doll's arm and just before it could be lifted, falling back onto the pile.

Ziva groaned loudly in protest, smacking her hands down on the control panel in frustration.

Tony, with his hands on her hips, moved her away from the machine just enough for him to step in between. Dropping his last token into the slot, Tony realigned the claw over the same doll Ziva picked, and she could not help the gentle look of admiration that softened her features. Hesitantly, Tony pressed the drop button. Creaking to the left, down, down, down, closing slowly as it lifts, and the doll is up. _Yes._ Tony's fingers figuratively crossed in a silent prayer that the claw would not let the prize fall.

His little internal prayer worked and Tony bent down to take the doll from the machine, spinning on his heels to face Ziva.

"A ninja for my ninja." Tony bowed slightly, holding the stuffed ninja out to the real ninja.

Ziva curled it into her arm, giving Tony a peck on the cheek. Both out of coins, they made the silent agreement that they should head out, Ziva leaning into his side and his arm wrapped around her waist as they walked.

Their eyes, thankfully, did not have to adjust much from the darkness inside, as dusk was evident as they crossed the parking lot.

"I thought we were having dinner too?" Ziva questioned as she observed them bypassing the business area and heading back into the residential area. Actually, it seemed more like they were going home.

"We are." Tony stated, not pulling his eyes from the road in front of him, and sure enough they pulled up onto their street. They did not go far though, pulling up to Tony's house on the corner.

Ziva followed Tony inside, thinking maybe he wanted to watch a movie or something before going to eat later.

"Just wait in here Ziva, I'll be right back." He informed, leaving her to her own devices in the living room

Ziva sat patiently on the couch. The wait was not long.

"Ready?" Ziva asked, standing up as Tony reentered the room, pulling a laugh from Tony.

"I should be asking you that." Tony nodded for her to come with him into the kitchen.

"I'm surprised. You're usually sharper than this. I figured you would have figured it out sooner." Tony explained, stepping out of the way for her to walk into the room more fully.

Ziva's eyes grew in surprise at what she found. The kitchen table was set for two with a vase in the middle supporting two morning glories and two pansies.

Each plate had an abundant helping of eggplant parmesan with spaghetti and a glass of wine beside it.

"You are alright with wine right? I can get water or something instead if you want."

"Wine is good, thank you." Ziva assured with a soft smile.

"Good, I don't think this would be a proper Italian meal without wine." Tony paused. "I just wanted to make sure you don't mind having a bit of alcohol or whatever. A lot of people don't like that."

"I like wine. I drink at parties and whatnot, but that is different. My parents drank wine with dinner most nights and they started letting my brother Ari and I when we turned 15. Besides, in Israel I would be of legal drinking age in just a few months now anyways."

Tony pulled out a chair for her before taking his own seat.

"It's eighteen there?" Tony put together.

"Yes, but it is not uncommon for people to drink younger. That is similar here, no?" Ziva continued, twirling spaghetti onto her fork.

"Yeah, a lot of under aged people drink here, but mostly just at parties and stuff." He explained, taking a bite himself, Ziva following suit.

"This is really good."

"You sound surprised." Tony chided.

"You never mentioned anything about being a good cook." Ziva pointed out.

"It never came up, and my limits stop after this, chicken and an infinite supply of pasta." Tony laughed.

Dinner went on and cleared away, plates stowed away in the dishwasher. At last, as any first date with one Anthony DiNozzo would require, they moved onto the couch to watch a movie.

Tony searched through the shelves for something to watch. He slipped a disc into the played and quickly popped into the kitchen, returning halfway through the opening credits of Mr. and Mrs. Smith with a white pastry box in hand.

"I figured if we had an Italian dinner we should have an Italian dessert too, but the bakery didn't have any cannolis, so I got the next best thing." Tony popped the box open. "Cannoli cupcakes." He announced, handing one to Ziva and taking the other for himself.

They sat shoulder to should, thighs touching thighs throughout the movie. They barely spoke for the next two hours apart from Tony occasionally helping the actors with their lines.

"Hey Ziva?" Tony asked.

"Yes?" Ziva's head was now resting on Tony's shoulders as the movie ended.

"If you were a spy, you would tell me right?" Tony feigned seriousness.

"Not if you would not tell me." Ziva smirked.

Half an hour later, once the soundtrack finally faded away, the new couple stood from the couch, hands laced together as Tony escorted Ziva home.

The stopped on the front porch, Ziva leaning against the door.

"I didn't do too bad huh? Got you home and in one piece by midnight."

"No, not too badly at all." Ziva commended. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yup, seven in the morning, same as always." Tony agreed.

"Well then get to bed or you will not want to run in the morning." Ziva said, hand on his chest, both pushing him away and holding him in place.

"I had a great night Tony." Ziva smiled.

"Good. So did I." He admitted.

"Get out of here." Ziva laughed, pulling him closer to kiss him goodbye before pushing him back and disappearing into the house, leaving Tony with an ear to ear smile and a lightness in his step.

Ziva spent most of the next day and on into the evening with Amira, playing with dolls and building towers with blocks and living in complete simplicity where the most important decisions were Dora or Diego and chicken nuggets or a peanut butter sandwich. Leighlah came home, relieving Ziva of Amira duty at around five o'clock, paying and thanking her before Gibbs came and picked her up.

The day after, Tim and Abby dedicated three hours of their morning to trying to teach Ziva how to play Mass Effect: 3, with little progress. Reenergizing on lunch, Abby started calling around, double checking to see how many people would be going bowling that night so that she could call the bowling alley to reserve lanes.

Abby had just finished calling other people and was surprised when she heard the ringing in her pocket of someone calling her instead.

"Hey Kate!" Abby greeted, always ecstatic regardless of whether or not there was a reason.

"Hey Abby, we just finished the last round of tryouts and I'm waiting on the bleachers with the other girls for the coach to tell us who made it." Kate's speech was choppy, fast, and breathless, half from the vigorous routines she had just performed and half from her nervousness about the final results.

"You'll be fine!" Abby reassured, reading her friends evident worry.

"I don't know. All the other girls are really amazing. Oh, and the football players are wrapping up now too. The coaches will probably tell us the final picks soon and Tony and I will get to leave in the next twenty minutes. Then I'm just going to shower before we go down to the bowling alley, okay?"

"Sounds great." Abby smiled even though Kate could not see her, but she did not realize how much comfort Kate took in being able to hear the smile in her voice. "You go catch your breath and wait for the coach to tell you how much she loves you." The paler girl joked.

"Alright." Kate laughed. "I'll see you soon."

"Bye!"

Abrupt, urgent knocking met the front door of the Gibbs household no more than forty minutes later.

Ziva jumped up from the couch, leaving Tim and Abby, striding to answer the unending knocks. The door swung open revealing Kate bouncing up on her toes in excitement, pouncing forward and embracing Ziva, the force pulling them back into the house.

"I made captain! I'm the new captain of the Anacostia High School Indians' Varsity Cheer Squad." Kate exclaimed proudly, her thrill laced with relief. She loved cheer and it was one of the best things in her life, she could not imagine going through her senior year without it.

"That is amazing Kate. We knew you would do great." Ziva congratulated, actually hugging her back, which, despite how much more comfortable with touch she was since she arrived in DC, was still a rare thing for her to do voluntarily.

Footsteps stormed across the house.

"Did I just hear what I think I heard?" Abby squealed. Kate nodded frantically, lips pursed together to keep her own shrieking in check.

"Yay!" Abby cheered, squishing Kate in a death-grip hug. Kate and Abby were so wrapped up that they did not notice Tim following just a few seconds behind Kate. His congratulations could not be heard over Abby's giddiness but as Abby needed to catch her breath, Tim gave Kate a small, significantly awkward, hug.

"So, is Tony here yet?" Kate asked, calming down from the adventure of telling her friends about the good news.

"Not yet, he'll probably be here soon though." Tim informed.

"Alright." Kate smiled as they all shrank back into the house, lounging in front of the television to wait for Tony.

His arrival came soon and he walked casually into the house, knocking before swiftly letting himself inside as if he owned the place.

"Guess who's the returning defensive end?" Tony smirked in euphoria. There were a lot of kids from the basketball team and the wrestling team who tried out for football this year and he knew that the competition was a lot harder and he really earned it.

"Is it Frank?" Kate teased.

"No way. It's probably Darius, right?" Abby guessed.

"Aaron." Tim caught on.

"I do not know anyone who tried out other than you, Steve and that boy, Trey, who plays basketball with us sometimes." Ziva shrugged.

"Oh no, you know this guy." Tony assured.

"Really? What does he look like?" Ziva inquired.

"I think you would like him actually. Sandy brown hair. Hazel eyes that are sometimes green. Devilishly handsome. Great abs despite the amount of pizza he eats. Incredibly charming."

"Hmm." Ziva shook her head. "This does not ring an alarm."

"Are you sure it doesn't ring a _bell_?" Tim corrected.

"You do seem to have taken quite a liking to this guy, if I know who we're talking about here." Abby put in.

"Maybe. Tell me more about him."

"Movies, James Bond, and has a fascination with one particular Israeli girl." Kate informed helpfully.

"Oh!" Ziva feigned realization. "I do think I know him." She tugged on Tony's tee shirt sleeve, pulling him down toward her.

"Congratulations." Ziva grinned, kissing his cheek.

"Thanks." Tony smiled, moving around the couch to lean against the armrest.

"Are we ready to go?" He asked.

"Yup." Tim nodded, standing from his seat and holding a hand out for Abby.

"Did Steve make it?" Kate asked Tony. "I haven't talked to him yet."

"First-string cornerback." Tony confirmed, pulling a wide smile of pride from Kate.

The bowling party consisted of three lanes of rowdy high schoolers, most of them giddy off of the days tryouts and accomplishments, Abby kicking butt and taking names, Steve and Kate practically making out while waiting for their turn, Tony exploding a coke all over Trey's shirt, who in turn cockily pulled off his shirt, flexing in front of everyone, Jimmy being awkwardly reclusive until Breena, the new junior varsity cheer captain pulled him into a conversation and Abby fangirling over the two for most of the night.

None of them could think of a better way to end the summer.


End file.
